Gwen Falcon: The Deatheater's Daughter
by witchbaby2
Summary: Gwen Falcon is a girl with some major family issues. Her father's a Death Eater at an American jail and her brother is coming for revenge. Even worse, her uncle is Severus Snape! PLEASE READ! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE


Gwen Falcon: The Death Eater's Daughter  
  
The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station to a greeting of hundreds of students. One of particular importance sat all alone on a trunk, waiting for something or someone, but no one seemed to notice.  
  
When everyone was in their seats, the Hogwarts express pulled out of the station. No one seemed to notice that there was a new student who wasn't gong to be in their 1st year. So she sat in a compartment completely to herself and stared longingly out the window. She hated her life, and she definitely hated her parents.   
'This is all their fault!' she said to herself. She was going to be the first exchange student in over 200 years! She didn't think she could take it! 'They are all going to think I am a freak. I promise I won't have any friends.'   
So there she sat and waited for her unavoidable doom in the place they call Hogwarts.   
When the Hogwarts Express finally reached it's stop all the kids climbed out and made their ways to either the carriages or the boats, except for Neville, who had lost Trevor yet again, and her, the new girl. She had no idea where to go. She wasn't a first year, and yet, she wasn't a veteran Hogwarts student. So what should she do?   
"I am completely lost," she said to herself, "Oh hell. I hate this place already." She made her way towards Hagrid and said, "Excuse me sir, where should I go?"   
"Well," he said merrily," You mus' be Gwen, the transfer!"   
"Umm... yea. That would be me. So, where should I go?"   
"Jus' go wit' tha reg'lar students, we'll have a special bit fer ya, I s'pose!"   
"Ok, great, with the regular students. Yep.....umm...where would that be?"   
"Jus' follow Harry over thar," he pointed to the famous Harry Potter and said, "He'll getcha there!"   
So off she trudged after the one he called Harry. Just as gloomy as ever. 'Great,' she thought, 'a special ceremony just for me.'   
Gwen followed Harry to a long line of carriages. She saw him get in with another boy with loads of red hair that was visible even in such dim light.   
She decided to get into one herself, but she was joined by another girl shortly after she got in.   
"Umm….excuse me but may I sit in here, most of the others are full?" she said. Gwen had seen her walking with Harry so she figured she was one of his friends.   
"Sure, I could use the company. My name is Gwen. What's yours?" she said with little enthusiasm.   
"Thanks. I'm Hermione Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am sorry to say that I have never seen you before. If you are a first year, you've gone to the wrong place. Are you new?" It was an easy mistake to make considering Gwen was barely five foot.   
"Well, I am new, but I am not a first year. I am afraid that I am the first transfer student in..."   
"Over one hundred years!" Hermione interjected, "I read that in Hogwarts, a History."   
"Yep, that's me," she replied gloomily.   
"Actually, I am the first transfer student in over two hundred years to be exact," she said with a blush.   
"Oh, really, wow," Hermione replied. She was shocked that she had actually gotten something wrong. But just pushed it aside. "How are you going to be sorted? Are they going to sort you along with the first years?"   
"No. Well, actually I don't know. The large man with the moleskin overcoat said that they were going to have a 'special ceremony' for me. Whatever that means," Gwen replied uncertainly.   
"Oh well. Whatever they have prepared for you don't be nervous, you'll do fine!" Hermione said encouragingly.   
"Thanks." she said as they pulled into the drive in front of Hogwarts enormous front gates. "Wow. This place is so much bigger than my old school!"   
"Well, I must be off, see you at the feast!" and Hermione slipped out of the carriage and joined Harry and Ron who were waving her over.   
"Great, alone again," Gwen said to herself, "Maybe this will be alright after all," and she stepped out onto the walkway and made her way towards the front doors.  
Gwen made her way through the entrance doors and was immediately met by Professor McGonagall.   
"Hurry up, your late," she said worriedly, "First you must meet with Professor Dumbledore, and then you must be introduced with the first years. I know it is kind of embarrassing, but we have no other way to sort you into your house."   
She said all of that so fast that Gwen could barely interpret it. Before she knew it she was being steered off to a separate corridor, away from the constant stream of students.   
She was lead up several flights of stairs and into an office type room. Here stood an old man she recognized from a picture as Headmaster Dumbledore.   
"Welcome to Hogwarts Miss Falcon," he spoke incredibly enthusiastic for his age. Just like Professor McGonagall he seemed rushed, "I am afraid we haven't much time. You are due for your first appearance in a few seconds. Your instructions are to file in with the first years, wait until each and everyone is sorted, and then you will be announced by Professor McGonagall here as a new student and we'll see what happens from there."   
"Ok, if you say so. It was nice meeting you sir," Gwen replied a little confused as to why Professor Dumbledore had to say the same thing Professor McGonagall had, while being pulled out the door. At this he gave a long smile and seemed rather pleased.   
"Oh well, here goes nothing." Gwen muttered under her breath, and followed Professor McGonagall back down the corridor.   
She stepped into a small room with some short students that she expected were first years. They all were very nervous looking and trying to tidy themselves up. She just then noticed how nervous she herself was and began adjusting her hairclips. She knew that any moment she would be the centre of attention in front of hundreds of students.  
"Hi! I am Sally!" said a cheery young girl that reminded Gwen of a very large cherry, "You are mighty tall for a first year."  
"That's because I am not a first year. Well this is my first year, but I am not going into the first grade. If that made any sense then I will be amazed." Gwen replied a bit tongue-tied.  
"It makes perfect sense! That means you must be the Exchange Student! Cool!"  
"Every one seems to know who I am, why is that?"  
"It's because there hasn't ever been an exchange student before, of course!"  
"No there was another, like 200 hundred years ago, or something like that."  
"Oh ok!" Sally said. At that exact moment Professor McGonagall stepped in.  
"Ok, Now just walk to the front of the hall and wait for further instructions," she said sternly. "And you Miss Falcon," she said while pointing to Gwen, "You follow, and just wait to be introduced."  
At that time, all of the first years were looking at Gwen and she felt here cheeks turn red. "Ok," she replied with a surprising croak of nervousness.  
She stepped into the enormous hall and was amazed at all of the blackness. The students wore black, the ceiling was black, even the room seemed dark and black despite the hundreds of floating candles. She walked at the back of the line and felt very out of place. She was short, yes, but still taller than all of them. People often thought she was younger than she really was, but they could most likely tell that she wasn't a first year.   
As she expected, most people attention was drawn directly to her.   
"Who is that?" muttered Ron Weasley as he pointed at Gwen, "Ain't she a bit tall for a first year?"   
"Yep," replied Hermione smartly, "That's because she isn't a first year."   
"Then why is she standing with the first years?" said Harry.   
"Because she is a foreign exchange student silly," she responded. She definitely loved the feeling of knowing something they didn't know.   
"Oh." Harry and Ron said in unison.   
"But, there hasn't been an exchange student before. Has there?" Harry asked.   
"Yes there has. Over 200 hundred years ago. She was nice enough to tell me that little detail," Hermione said with a mock tone.   
"Ha, she knew something that you didn't know?" Ron said with a giant grin, "I have GOT to meet this girl!"  
After all of the first years were sorted and the final applause was finished, all eyes turned straight towards Gwen who now stood terribly alone. All she wanted to do was crawl under a rock and die. She felt incredibly self-conscious. Just then Dumbledore stood up and all whispers ceased.   
"Students!" he said, "Today we have history in the making. Here is Gwen Falcon, the first exchange student in over 200 hundred years!"   
'I wonder how many more times I have to hear that phrase?' Gwen thought to herself.   
Whispers and scattered applause spread through the audience.   
"Told you!" whispered Hermione to Ron and Harry.   
"You may be thinking, well, 'how are we going to sort her into a house'?" he continued, "That is easy, we will simply sort her with the first years. She will join her class, and that is that." he said and quickly sat down. He ended so suddenly that no one knew what to do. Soon they applauded, but a bit weakly.   
"All right Miss Falcon," said Professor McGonagall pointing to the sorting hat, "Try it on."   
She sat down on the hard three-legged stool and slipped the hat onto her head.   
  
'Hmmmm' ...she heard in her head, 'lots of bravery, yes...quick minded, too. Tricky, but I guess it will have to be...GRYFFINDOR!' she tore the hat off and briskly walked towards the clapping table.   
"At least I am with Harry Potter and that Hermione girl."  
Gwen sat down to a greeting of applause and catcalls.   
"Hey, I am Fred, he's George, what year are you going into?" said Fred eagerly.   
"Ummm…. I am going into…" Gwen started.   
"Don't tell me you don't know." he cut in.   
"No, I know. You just didn't let me finish," she said a bit irritated, "I will be a fifth year."   
"Great! You'll be in the same year as ikle Ronikins here," he pointed to the friend of Harry she had noticed before. He had the same bright red colored hair as the twins did, and he also had loads of freckles on his face. Finally she put two and two together.   
"Oh! You two must be his brothers."   
"Guilty!" they said in unison.   
"Cool. I knew twins before."   
"Really? I know some twins, too." George said with a smirk.   
"Who?"   
"Us."   
"Oh, ok. The twins I knew went to my old school. They were my friends."   
"Ok. Do you have your class schedule yet?" he said. He seemed to want to change the subject.   
"Umm...no. Am I supposed to?"   
"Nope. Ah, the food has arrived!" he said looking at the table. Gwen followed his eyes and saw platters that had appeared out of nowhere, and were heaped full of delicious foods. Gwen suddenly realized how hungry she really was. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten.   
"Come on, eat up before your supper gets cold!" George said sounding like an over-concerned mother.   
"Ok, you don't have to tell me twice!" Gwen replied and dug in to the lovely looking grub.  
After the feast, Gwen followed Hermione, Harry and Ron to the Gryffindor common room, and allowed herself to be steered towards the girls' dorm. It was a lot larger than the one at her old school, and she was surprised to see that it was a room where all the 5th year girls shared. In America, that was barely ever the fact. The school had so few students that all of the girls shared one huge room.  
After a good nights sleep, she awoke to Hermione shaking her. "What, what do you want?" she said drowsily.   
"You are going to be late to class if you don't go to breakfast now!" Hermione answered.   
"Oh, ok. I am up, I'm up!" Gwen replied sliding out of bed and grabbing some clean clothes out of her trunk.   
"You'd better hurry, I made Harry and Ron wait for us."   
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Just hold on a sec.," she continued to get dressed and finally left the room with Hermione leading the way.   
They met up with Harry and Ron and followed them to breakfast. There they not only ate breakfast, but also got their schedules. Luckily, most of her classes were with Hermione, and the classes not with Hermione were all with Ron and Harry. That way she'll never get lost. A definite positive in her mind. Ever since she had arrived, she had noticed the immensity of the school. It was at least three times the size as her old school. She was positive she would get lost if she didn't have someone to help her.   
Gwen's first class was with Professor Snape. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione read that they all groaned very loudly.   
"I don't get it," Gwen said puzzled," What is there to groan about? He seemed nice to me when I talked to him."   
"Your opinion will be changed in about…" Ron started looking at his watch,"...Twenty seconds." Just as they enter the dungeons.  
The three of them walked into the dungeon classroom along with the rest of the Gryffindors and some other students that turned out to be Slytherins. They took their seats at the farthest table in the corner. They sat down, took out their books, and waited for Professor Snape to get there. He was uncharacteristically late. After 15 minutes of waiting, chatter started breaking out.   
"Where is he?"   
"Why is he so late?"   
"Do you think he will ever come?"   
"I think we should just leave and if we get in trouble, just blame it on the Gryffindors!" said a long drawling voice from the opposite side of the room. It brought a brief chuckle from about half the class.   
"Shut up Malfoy." said Ron in a quiet yet clear voice.   
"Why Weasley? Are you going make me? What could you possibly do to me to make me stop? Blind me with your bright red hair?"   
"No, but I will blind you in some other way? Do you think my fingernails could do the trick?"   
"SILENCE MR. WEASLEY!" said a cold voice from the doorway.  
"THAT WILL BE 5 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR FOR SHOUTING AT AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER!" he continued staring daggers at Ron. "I will have order in my classroom. I will apologize for my lateness; I had far more important business. Anyway, get out your supplies, POP QUIZ! You will make a simple sleeping potion ready to be taken by the end of the class period! Get to it!" he sat down and started flipping through papers on his desk.   
The entire class just sat looking at him with hate welling up in their eyes.  
"I believe I said get to it. You are running out of valuable time!" Then came the sound of books being opened and cauldrons being dragged to tables.   
"I told you, I told you, Gwen, that he is a mean one!" Ron said to Gwen who he chose as his partner.   
"Oh come on! He is just keeping us on our toes!" she replied.   
"Keeping us on our toes?! Keeping us on our toes?! If you think this is keeping us on our toes, wait until he gets angry!"  
When they walked out of class, only one person wasn't frowning, and that was Gwen. She had been the only person to get a 10 out of 10 on her pop quiz, and she was convinced Professor Snape wasn't as bad as he seemed.   
"Oh come!" she said for the hundredth time, "All he did was test us on whether or not we were remembering our potions. He can't be as malicious as you say he is!"   
"You will change your mind one of these days," answered Ron, "and it will be a nasty shock to you!"   
"Fine, whatever you say," with a roll of her eyes, she ran to catch up with Hermione and Harry who had sped up. "Wait up you guys!"   
They had lunch next. Which pleased Gwen a lot. She didn't realize until just now how hungry she had become. After they ate, Ron, Harry, and Gwen had Divination up in the Northern Tower.  
"Let's see how the giant insect plans to kill me today!" said Harry with a grin.  
They climbed up into Professor Trelawney's Tower Classroom and sat down at a table on little pouf pillow chairs. Gwen sat between Ron and Harry and they stared at the black candles that had been lit and placed on their table. Their flames glowed with a slightly purple tint. It had an eerie feeling to it.   
"Today!" came a misty voice seated in the shadows, "We will start with mythology! For ages, the magical world has been shunned! Feared! Muggles believe that we are dangerous and are murderers! That we cast spells of torture and despair unto them. We will look through the eyes of them and see their opinions of what magic really is! But I ask you not to joke. This is serious work. Muggles have been known to attack at the very sight of "peculiar" things," Harry's thoughts flashed to his Aunt and Uncle, "Can you deal with this?"   
"Yes, Professor, I think we can handle it," said Ron trying to stifle a laugh.   
"Very well. Get out your books and turn to page 337. We will start in the back of the book this year. Oh, I see I will have the pleasure to meet the infamous new student. I saw you coming dear, and I know all about you. My inner eye has told me all I need to know." She said this all so slowly that it was hard to understand.   
Gwen got her book and turned to the right page. The page had a picture of ancient Egyptians on it lifting huge stones. When she turned the page she noticed that each page had a new ancient race on it. "Great," she said, "History class all over again."   
Right as she was finishing saying this, Trelawney walked by and said sharply, "We will be looking at these civilizations and their relationships with magic. We will try to reach back and communicate with them. To better...understand them. Do you understand, Gwen?"   
"Ummm...yes...I think. So we are going to try to contact dead muggles?"   
"Yes, and no. We are going to try to speak with them. But some of them won't be muggles, child, some will be ancient witches and wizards."   
"Right," Gwen said with a roll of her eyes, "but what if they don't want to be contacted?"   
"Just turn your page to 337 and let me teach the lesson!"   
Once Professor Trelawney had walked away Harry whispered to Gwen with a laugh, "Way to get on her good side! I bet you'll be the one to die this year!"   
"What? Die?" and with that Harry and Ron fell on the floor laughing. "What? Really?"  
When class was over, Gwen was still as confused about their lesson as when she had just come in.   
"I don't get it," she said to Harry and Ron, "What does this has to do with divination?"   
"I don't know, don't ask me." Ron replied. Then talking to Harry he said, "Is it just me or has Professor Trelawney changed?"   
"She seems like her old self, yet, with a more down to earth way of speaking. I think she is trying to stick to easier lesson plans. I wonder what's wrong." Harry said.   
"I have another question for you Harry, why would I die? I don't get it." which was responded to by a burst of hysterical laughter.   
"We'll tell you later." Ron answered for him. Just then Hermione walked up.   
"Hey guys." she said," I have a flier for you Harry. It's from Professor McGonagall, and it says you are going to have to set up try-outs for a new keeper. Anyone you have in mind?"   
"Why do I have to do this?!" he said angrily, "I don't know anyone to replace Wood, do you guys?"   
"Ummm…" Gwen started, "I kinda do."   
"Who then?"   
"Me? Maybe?" she said with a pleading look.   
"I don't know, I guess I will have to see you fly, are you any good? We won last year so we have a reputation to uphold."   
"I guess so. You're just going to have to find out!"   
After all of their classes were done for the day, Harry led Gwen down to the Quidditch field to test out her skills. He was absolutely amazed. He couldn't get a single Quaffle even remotely close to the hoops. But in order to put her to the true test, he needed a real chaser. He had to admit, he wasn't a very good chaser himself. So he called Katie Bell down and had her try to score on Gwen. No luck. Gwen was awesome. Just ask Ron. He just sat there with a gaping mouth (it might have been her Quidditch skills, but Harry suspected something else, too).   
When Harry and Katie were satisfied, they called Gwen to come down.   
"Congratulations, you just made the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Harry said with a huge grin.   
"I have? Really?" Harry responded with a shake of his head, "YES!!!! Wahoo! I'm on the team!!! Yeah!!" She ran over and gave Ron a hug. "I am on the team Ron!!! Wahoo!"   
"Geez! It must be really important to you. Let me go! You're hurting me!"   
"Oh sorry," she said with hyperactive giggle.   
Several weeks flew by with out many happenings, a brief brawl with Malfoy, Quidditch Practices started with Harry as the Captain (big surprise), and not much more than that.   
One day when everyone was eating breakfast and the daily stream of owls arrived; a large barn owl dropped a small envelope into Gwen's cereal bowl spraying anyone within three square feet with milk. It was addressed to Gwen signed from her mother and on the back it had the words;  
READ IN PRIVATE   
  
The handwriting was shaky and Gwen automatically knew something was terribly wrong. She grabbed the envelope and head out at a run for the Gryffindor tower.  
"Something must be very serious for her to seem so upset." Ron said, "I wonder what's in that note."  
"I don't know," Harry answered a little confused, "but whatever it is, her mum definitely doesn't want us to find out."  
"Well? What should we do?" Hermione asked, "Should we go comfort her or just leave her be? Don't you think she might like to have a friend with her?"  
"We shouldn't assume anything. We should just let her be," Ron said even though the tone of his voice seemed to wander after Gwen.  
Meanwhile Gwen ran all the way up to the girls' dormitory without stopping. She was too worried that she knew exactly what the letter contained. It read:  
  
Dear my lovely daughter Gwen,  
I hope your day is going well, is everything all right? Any cute boys? I know you don't like talking about that kind of thing. I hope you are making new friends, I know how hard it must be for you to leave almost everyone you know behind. At least you still have your Uncle there with you. I am afraid I have some bad news about your brother. Well, Xander left, he said he hated us for sending your father away. I am afraid he might do something drastic; after all, we all know how powerful he is. Be careful! Stay on your guard. The Ministry of Magic in London and the U.S. are both looking out for him, and trying to keep you safe. Please tell your Uncle, my brother, that I miss him dearly, and let him read this letter, but no one else!  
I love you dearly,  
Mom  
  
Gwen didn't talk to anyone for the next couple of days except for her Uncle. When she talked to him they always met in secret because he didn't want the other students to tease Gwen on his account. Although most people thought he was cruel and heartless, he was definitely Gwen's favorite Uncle; after all, he did ask her to come to Europe so he could help her.   
Even though Gwen didn't suspect it, she really did have three great friends who thought about her many times that week. But every time they would try to walk up to her, she would turn and walk the other way.   
"What do you think is wrong with Gwen?" Ron asked one afternoon.   
"I don't know," Hermione replied, "but whatever it is it must be serious! I know that I don't know her very well, but she doesn't seem like the kind of person to just stop living."   
"We should probably try a little harder the next time we have a chance to talk to her," said Harry, "We have transfiguration with her next, we can talk to her then."   
Hermione and Ron nodded their heads in agreement and started off down the corridor towards Professor McGonagall's classroom.  
They walked into Professor McGonagall's classroom and sat down all around Gwen.   
"Gwen," Ron started, "Something very bad must be happening to you, and we really want to let you know that we are your friends, and friends...ummm...well...they are supposed to be able to talk and stuff. So...talk to us."   
"I am sorry, but I can't," she replied.   
"And why not?" Hermione asked.   
"It's kind of personal. You wouldn't understand. Heck, I barely understand myself. Besides, you don't really want to hear me bickering about family problems anyway. Listen, I might be able to talk to you more later tonight, after dinner. OK?"   
"Fine," Hermione said, "as long as you are honest about it. Trust us, no matter how weird it may seem, I guarantee that we can understand. We have been through a lot."   
"Trust me," Harry added, "I know a thing or too about family problems!"   
"Agreed," she said with what almost resembled a smile of relief, "I promise, and believe it or not, I do trust you guys."  
That night they waited in the common room until all of the other students had gone to bed. They sat in silence listening to the cracking of the logs on the fire. Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited for Gwen to make the first move.   
'OK,' she thought to herself, 'Here goes nothing.'  
"First off...umm…I am from a very…uhh…unique family. Yah. And my name isn't really Gwen Falcon. More like Gwen O'Conner. We changed it because of my father. He was a very bad man in the times of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. He didn't used to be like that; he just sort of became that way. When my mom found out what he was doing, she left him with my older brother, Xander, and me. She also helped the Ministry capture him and send him to a wizard prison. If my brother could have had the chance, he would have gone back to our father."   
"Which leads us to the letter I got last week from my mom. Xander left. He is going to help my father. Over the years Xander has become very powerful. No one knows how or why he is getting like this. All that is known is that he is. He can do unheard of things way beyond anything they teach you at school. He can even become anyone he wants, just by saying their names. He can be anyone, anywhere, anytime. And he hates me," she paused for a very long time before adding, "He will be here for me soon. I don't know what to do."  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stunned. They thought something was seriously wrong, but this was very surprising. Once again Harry was faced with something dealing with Voldemort. Only this time it wasn't his fault, and he wasn't the one in danger.  
"Umm…geez Gwen. That was a lot more serious than we expected," Hermione said after a long, uncomfortable silence. "We were expecting something…a little less…evil."  
"I know. I am glad you guys have …well...experience in this kind of field. That is the only thing that convinced me to tell you. I am so sorry, but that is all I can tell you."  
"Does Professor Dumbledore know?" Harry asked.  
"Yes." Gwen answered very quietly, "He was the first person I told. He said he could help. I don't know how he possibly could."  
"It will all come out right in the end," this time it was Ron's turn, "It always does. Trust me. If there is a way, Dumbledore will find it."  
"That's right Gwen. We can't do anything until tomorrow at least. So let's all go to bed." Hermione said.  
"I guess your right. Goodnight." Gwen answered to Hermione and Harry's retreating backs. Ron waited a little while then started to get up when Gwen added, "I do you know."  
"What?" he asked.  
"Trust you."  
  
The prediction of Gwen seemed to be false and her hopes began to rise after three weeks of no bad news. The Daily Profit was even boasting about it.  
"No bad news for a long time now. We can expect happier and safer days coming," stated one reporter.   
"Golden days once again! No dark news for many months, and we can expect it to stay like that, too. Thanks go out to our wonderful Ministry of Magic and all of its hard work and effort," reported another.  
Even though the whole world seemed in high spirits, Gwen still felt deep inside her something that knew everything wasn't all right. One day she found out why.   
The usual morning post came in and Gwen received her usual three wizard world papers: one called the United States Wizard's Journal, one from England, and the Daily Profit. She opened her American one first and glanced at the front page. On it were two articles with bold letters stating:  
Alcatraz prisoner missing. No one witnessed his escape.  
AND  
Alcatraz guard missing. Suspect thought to be with missing prisoner.  
  
Calmly, Gwen put down the paper and opened the next two. Both had similar articles on the front pages.   
"I need to talk to you guys," she said speaking in a loud whisper to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, "And I need to speak to Dumbledore, too. I finally found my father, and I think I found Xander, too."  
"Does anyone know where Dumbledore's office is?" she asked.  
"Sure. Follow me," Harry said and started standing. Gwen grabbed her newspapers and followed after him. Together they tried not to look too suspicious.   
When they reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office they noticed that he was already outside and seemed to be waiting for someone. Sure enough….  
"Oh good. I have been waiting for you Miss. Falcon," he said, "It seems as though we finally got the news we have been waiting for."   
"Yes. It's all over the newspapers," she replied.  
"Then we must hurry. First, we must contact Cornelius Fudge, then William Johnson of the United States Ministry of Magic, also we must contact the American President and tell him to send out Special Forces in search of the prisoner and guard. This is where you come, Gwen. You must give us a detailed description of Xander O'Conner, I believe that is what he goes by now?"  
"Yes."  
"Alright. Thank You. Now your turn, Harry." Dumbledore said looking directly into Harry's bright green eyes.  
"Me? What can I do? I don't have a clue about anything going on here."  
"Exactly. And you must keep it that way. You can't have the whole school in an uproar, even though; doubtlessly they are already talking about the situation at hand. Please don't go feeding their emotions. This is more of a private family situation involving only the Falcon and the O'Conner family."  
"Umm… Professor?" Harry asked awkwardly. "How can a simple family problem span two continents?"  
  
Later that day at supper in the Great Hall, Harry noticed that Gwen wasn't there.   
'Probably still sending letters out to the Ministers with Dumbledore," he said to himself. Just then Ron walked up.  
"Harry?"   
"What is it Ron?"  
"Why hasn't Gwen come back yet?"  
"I think she still has some letters to send."  
"To who?"  
"Some people back in the United States."  
"Oh…like who?"  
"Umm…" Just then he realized Malfoy was pointing at him. He watched as Malfoy, accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle, got up and walked over to him.  
"What is going on with that Falcon girl?" he asked.  
"What's it to you, Malfoy? Ron asked.  
"Just curious. She keeps running off and disappearing. Some thing's…not right about her."  
"Well, I supposed you're a great judge of character." Ron said sarcastically.  
"One day, you will wish you had been my friend from the very beginning," Malfoy said to Harry absolutely fuming mad, and turned to walk off.  
"If that day ever comes, the world will be a gloomy one indeed," Harry mumbled to his retreating back.  
"What do you say we go talk to Gwen?" Ron suggested to Harry and Hermione who was seated right beside him.  
After unanimously agreeing, they started walking off towards Dumbledore's office. When they reached the door they realized that they didn't have the password.  
"Now what?" asked Ron.  
"Maybe we should go back to the common room and hope she comes back soon," suggested Hermione.  
"Maybe you're right. She'll come out when she's ready," Ron said. Just as they started walking away, Gwen, accompanied by Professor Dumbledore, stepped out of the door. Ron turned around and said, "Gwen! We just came to find you! Has…umm…everything you had to do been taken care of?"  
"I am afraid, Mr. Weasley, what Miss Falcon has to do will never fully be taken care of," Dumbledore answered for her.  
"Oh." said Ron, "But is she at least allowed to come to the common room with us?"  
"Yes. I can…right?" Gwen asked Dumbledore.  
"Sure you can! Just remember what we have talked about for the last several hours."  
"I know, I know. Don't worry, and please tell Uncle not to worry too much even though I doubt it will do much good. I know I am safe here. Thanks."  
With a nod from Dumbledore they started off, again, towards the common room.  
"Who is your uncle?" Ron asked.   
"I'll tell you later. Right now we have company."  
Once again they were stopped by Malfoy.  
"Geez," Ron said, "Does he ever give it a rest?"  
"We have some questions for you Miss Falcon," Malfoy started.  
"What is it Malfoy? I am in a hurry." Gwen said.  
"We," he pointed to himself, Crabbe, and Goyle, "and the rest of the school want to know where you keep running off to and why."  
"Hmm…Well, I keep running off to my dormitory to check on my brewing potions. One including the draught of death in which I plan to use on you, Mr. Malfoy. Why? Well, because I hate you. Goodnight!" she announced in a matter-of-fact voice and pushed a flabbergasted Malfoy into Crabbe and Goyle.  
They walked to the common room in utter silence. When they finally got there it was Gwen who broke it.  
"Why is that Malfoy kid so interested in where I go? I know he says the whole school is, but if that were true, why is he the only one asking me?"  
"Beats me," Ron answered giving Gwen little help. "I say someone ought to cut off his nose since he is always sticking it in places it doesn't belong!"   
"A lot of good that will do me," Gwen said.  
"Speaking of your present…umm…troubles, Gwen…How can we help?" Hermione asked.  
"I don't know. I think I have done all that I can. At least at the present time. The owls I sent out should get back to me by tomorrow…I hope."  
"When do you think you brother will come?" Harry asked.  
"That's what's scaring me. He could already be here and we could never know."  
"Wow, that would make me paranoid." Ron said.  
"No kidding." said Gwen.   
"You're not helping Ron!" criticized Hermione.  
"Sorry. I thought that was funny."  
"Well you're not going to win any medals for being a comedian now are you?" Hermione continued.  
"Well, at least I have a sense of humor!"   
"But no common sense, I see."  
"I don't mean to intrude into this childish fight, but we have a real crisis at hand here!" Harry said.  
"You have to admit, you guys are acting like 2 year olds," Gwen said.  
"Sorry." Hermione and Ron said in unison.  
"Ok then…" Harry said.  
"Right…" Gwen said followed by an uneasy silence.  
"What if he becomes one of us?" Hermione finally said. It of course was a thought in the back of everyone's mind.  
"We should have a password of some sort." Harry said.  
"Ya! But like what?" asked Ron.  
"It has to be something completely stupid," Gwen said.  
"Right…" they all said in unison.  
"Like what?" Ron said again.  
"Umm…I don't know…think of something Ron!" Gwen urged.  
"Ok, how about 'Gwen is a midget'?" he suggested.  
"NO!" Gwen screamed.  
"Yes!" Harry and Hermione pleaded.  
"Come on Gwen! You have to admit that sometimes I am a genius," Ron said with an arrogant smile.  
"No!" she whined, "How 'bout 'Ron is the Jolly Red Giant'?"  
"What?" they chorused.  
"Never mind."  
"Fine, lets do this logically," Hermione suggested persuasively, "Let's take a vote of hands. All in favor of 'Gwen is a midget' raise your hand," Everyone but Gwen raised their hands.  
"NO!" she whined again, "I don't want to be a midget!"  
"Sorry, Gwen," Ron joked, "You already are."  
"Just because I am only five foot doesn't mean I am a midget," she pleaded, "There are plenty people at Hogwarts who are shorter than I am."  
"Ya," Ron continued, "Too bad they are all first years."  
"Shut up, Ron!"  
"Now it's your turn to be a two year old," he continued, followed by the first burst of laughter between them in a long time.  
"Wait. What if one of us is him right now?" Harry asked.  
"Don't be paranoid Harry." Ron answered.  
"If you are really that paranoid, let's find out. Ask some questions that only the real us would know," Hermione suggested. The mood in the common room suddenly went from easy to tense.  
"Ok…I'll start." Ron said. "Harry, the first day we met, I tried to put a spell on my rat. What was I trying to do to him?"  
"You were trying to turn him yellow!" Harry answered proudly.  
"Right. Now for you Hermione. You yourself did a spell the same day only minutes after. What spell did you do?"  
"Oculous Repairo. I repaired Harry's glasses!"  
"Right! That takes care of Hermione and Harry!"  
"And you Ron," Harry chimed in, "Only you would know the details of that day."  
"Ok. But what about you Gwen? How do we know it's you?"  
"You know it's me because I said the password to get into the common room, and I came out of Dumbledore's office. He would have known if I was someone else. Other than that I haven't left your side!"  
"Ok," Ron said confidently, "We are definitely us. Wow. That sounds weird."  
"I know." Gwen laughed.  
"It has gotten really late!" Hermione exclaimed.  
Harry turned to look at his watch, which he still refused to take off even though it didn't work.  
"In case you're wondering, Harry, it's now 11:30."  
"Oh, then we should all go to sleep."   
"Ok." Gwen said, "See you all in the morning!"  
Harry and Hermione both said their goodnights and headed to their dormitories, but Ron and Gwen remained. Neither of them knew why they wanted to stay, but they seemed to have some silent agreement.  
"Gwen."  
"Ya Ron?"  
"Are you really ok?"  
"No. I don't think I will ever be."  
"Is there anyway I can help?"  
"Yes, actually there is."  
"What?" he asked with an eager expression on his face. He waited for the answer, but Gwen seemed hesitant.  
"Just be you."  
"Is that all?"  
"For now," she answered. She wanted to say more, but her heart was too shy, "All I need is for you to keep on being you. To be there."  
"I will always be there. You do know that, right?"  
"Yes. I do. You seem to be the only one who understands me. Who really understands me! Except my Uncle."  
"Thanks. Which brings us to another point. Who is your uncle?"  
"Umm…Promise you won't tell?"  
"Promise."  
"You won't even tell Harry or Hermione?"  
"I am guessing you don't trust me."  
"No. That's not it. It's just…"  
"You don't want everyone in the school to know?"  
"Right."  
"Ok then tell me!" he begged on his hands and knees in front of her.  
"Ok, ok, my uncle is Professor Snape."  
"So that's why you were defending him!"  
"Shhh!"  
"Ok, I promised I wouldn't tell, and I won't."  
"Thanks. Well, goodnight Ron."  
"Goodnight Gwen." Ron said as he watched her disappear beyond the reaches of the fire's light. "I wish I knew what was really wrong with her. I wish I knew what she was thinking, and I definitely wish I could tell her…but I will…someday," he whispered to himself all the while looking toward the spot where she disappeared, "Someday."  
At that very moment, he didn't know that Gwen had stopped to listen. 'And that someday will come sooner than think.' she thought to herself.  
The next day when Harry awoke, he noticed that Ron's bed was empty. He immediately got dressed and ran downstairs to the common room. What he found was Ron sleeping peacefully on the armchair closest to fire. He noticed he was still wearing the clothes he had on yesterday. "I didn't think he came up. I wonder why not." He walked over to him and gently nudged him awake.   
"What do ya want? It's to early." Ron groaned and began to snore soundly.  
"Come on Ron! It's almost time to go to breakfast. Wake up you stupid git."  
"What? Wait…why am I here?"  
"I'd like to know the same thing."   
"Oh…I must have fallen asleep."  
"No really? I could never have guessed."  
"After you guys left, I talked to Gwen for awhile, then she left and I just stayed here."  
"You talked to Gwen? About what?"  
"Stuff."   
"Right…" Harry said unbelieving.  
"I swear that's all."  
"Whatever, I am hungry, let's go get something to eat, but first you have to change."  
"Oh ya."  
After Ron had gotten into a clean outfit they made their way to the Great Hall. There they met up with Hermione and Gwen who were having an animated conversation with Fred and George about the upcoming quidditch match against Hufflepuff.  
"Don't worry Gwen!" Fred told her, "They are a push over. You'll do fine!"  
"We did win our match against Ravenclaw last month and they are way better than Hufflepuff." George consoled her.  
"If you say so." Gwen said.  
"You never missed a quaffle. We won 250 to 0!"   
"Ok, ok. Hi Harry, Hi Ron," she said when they walked up and took two seats in front of them.  
"Hi guys," Harry answered. After Ron didn't answer, Harry nudged him in the stomach.  
"Ouch! Oh, hi."  
"Is something bugging you, Ron?" Gwen asked.  
"Umm…no, nothing."  
"Ok," Somehow Gwen didn't believe him. Something was different about him. 'Maybe he's just tired.' she thought to herself. ' Ya. That's probably it.'   
"You guys better eat fast. You are awfully late," Fred suggested.  
"Blame it on Mr. Sleepyhead over there," Harry joked, "He fell asleep in the common room and was very hard to wake up! Blimey, I don't think I have every heard him snore before!"  
"You snore?" Gwen asked Ron.  
"Doesn't everyone?" he retaliated.  
"Alright. You don't have to get all defensive! I am off to class, anyone coming with me?"   
"I will," Hermione chimed. "Bye guys!" And she followed Gwen to their first class. On their way, they discussed Ron's sudden mood swing.  
"What do you think is wrong with him?" Gwen asked worriedly, "Do you think I said something wrong?"  
"I don't know. He is acting quite unusual."  
"Maybe he's just tired." Gwen said out loud this time.  
"Yes, maybe."  
Back at the table, everyone continued to pry at Ron as to why he was being so crabby.  
"I don't want to talk about it!"  
"Fine, fine!" Fred said, "I am off. George? You coming?"  
"Yep, hold on."  
"We should be leaving, too, Ron." Harry suggested.  
"Lead the way."  
"Ok."  
The rest of the day pretty much continued along the same lines. Ron kept on having sudden mood swings and he actually got every question on his assignments right.   
"Wow Ron," Harry said in surprised after checking what he got on his assignment, "You are almost as smart as Hermione. Did she lend you her brain?"  
"No."  
"Ok. I thought that was funny."  
"Well I didn't," he replied all the while looking at Gwen. In fact, all day long all he was doing was asking about Gwen or staring at her. Harry decided it was time to confront him on this matter.  
"Are you suddenly obsessed with Gwen or something?"  
"No."  
"What did you guys talk about last night?"  
"Nothing."  
"Then why are you always staring at her?"  
"I'm not."  
"Are too."  
"Leave me alone."  
"Gladly," at that moment the bell rang and classes were out for the day. Harry left Ron alone with himself and met up with Gwen and Hermione. Once again to discuss Ron.  
"Something is obviously wrong with him, Harry! We have to do something!" Gwen exclaimed.  
"I know! But what?"   
At dinner, Ron wasn't present, so Gwen went to look for him. She was the only person who was really concerned for him. She was worried that something really bad was going on. There was a kind of uneasiness in the air. She didn't like the feeling that something was out of her control.  
She had searched all through the Gryffindor tower to no prevail. She then decided to search the entire castle. Well, at least the places Ron would go. She decided to search the second floor first. She didn't know why, but it just seemed like the thing to do. The corridors were practically silent as she made her way through. Her steps echoed and sounded distant. She got goose bumps and couldn't help but feel cold. After all, it was January. Then she heard something…someone was talking in the right hand corridor. It didn't sound like a professor so she dared to get closer. 'Just close enough so I can hear what they are saying' she thought to herself. She stepped as silent as she could closer to the source of the sound. She could just make out the rough outline of a person. They seemed about student sized, but for some reason Gwen didn't want to show herself. She listened to the two voices that reached her ears…  
"Why are you doing this?" the first one pleaded.  
"Because I can. I am doing my father a favor," the second one answered with a tone of superiority.   
"You're crazy," this was followed by a laugh so evil in its intents that it seemed quite demonic.  
"Many have said that to me. So far I seem to have proved them right," Gwen still hid in the shadows. The voices she heard were so similar that she could have guessed they were the same person. The only difference she heard was the first voice was quiet and scared. The second, loud and haughty.   
"Why did you choose me?"  
"I saw you two talking, you seemed close. I can tell that you love her, and I can tell that she loves you, too. You are perfect for my plan. She could never hurt someone she loves. She is too weak," Finally, the reality of the conversation hit her. She thought she had recognized the voices. They were both Ron's, but not coming from the same person.   
'I knew it! I knew it, why the hell didn't I follow my gut instincts?' she thought to herself. She knew exactly what they were talking about. She had to get to Dumbledore! She crept silently until she thought she was out of earshot and ran as fast as she could to Dumbledore's office.  
"Ahh...my sister has found us, Weasley. Perfect," Xander said as he heard far away footsteps echoing.  
  
When Gwen reached the hidden office corridor, she banged as hard as she could on the wall.  
"Professor Dumbledore!" she screamed, "I need you!"  
"Gwen?" said a voice from behind her.   
She suddenly turned around with a terrified squeak and was relieved to find her Uncle Snape. "Help me! He's here."  
At once, Snape understood. "Stand back." he ordered, "Frog Pops!" he muttered to the stone wall. It opened revealing a passageway.   
They ran up the stars to Dumbledore's office and Gwen exclaimed, "Professor Dumbledore! Xander is here! Hurry!"   
"Where?"  
"Umm…he was somewhere on the second floor. Damn! Now I don't remember!"  
"Stay here, Gwen." Snape said.  
"What? Why?"  
"Because he is far more powerful then you, Gwen, and we can't risk you getting hurt."  
"NO! This is my battle!"  
"Then why did you come to us?" he asked. This had finally reached Gwen. Why had she gone to them? Before she had time to reply, they had gone and left her alone in Dumbledore's office.  
"Damn!" she screamed, again, "I have to save Ron." She ran out of the office and hurried to the Great Hall only to find it abandoned. "Great," she said, "They probably told everyone to go back to their dorms." Just then she saw a cloaked figure run past the Great Halls entry. It seemed to be carrying something. 'Or someone.' she thought. She followed it outside and saw it run towards the Forbidden Forest. "He can't get away! That is probably Xander! STOP!" she screamed. Apparently, the figure had heard her. It turned around and dramatically threw off its cloak. Xander dropped his burden to the floor. Gwen ran towards him. At this time, Xander was in his normal form.   
"Ah sis!" he said, "It is so nice to see you again. I see you have made a few more friends here then you had at home. Good for you. Still as short as ever I see. What a pity."  
"Hello Xander. Still as evil as ever I see. What a pity," she retaliated.  
"Touché, you become more and more like me everyday."  
"If I was anything like you, do you think I could possibly live with myself?"  
"Don't knock being evil. It is well known that evil people have more fun! You should try it sometime. It's great!"   
"Ya, I am really going to believe you."  
"Hey, come on! I am doing the best I can to be a good older brother to you."  
"A good older brother? I thought you were evil?"  
"Can't I be good at being evil?"  
"No."  
"Fine then. Oh look, your lover boy is waking up," He looked down at the stirring bundle at his feet.  
"Let him out!" Gwen ordered.  
"But why? It's so much fun to torture him. You can't imagine some of the things he has said about you."  
"Like what?"  
"'Just kill me! Leave her alone! She is to wonderful, to perfect to die.'" Xander said using Ron's voice. "It is really quite disgusting, love. How can you love someone who has evil brewing in her blood?"  
"I am not evil! I am not evil at all. There are only two people in my family who are evil. That is you, and that thing…that disgusting thing that people keep calling my father!"  
"He is your father, Gwen. Get over it!"  
"Why do you hate me so much Xander?"  
"Why? I thought that was obvious! You and mother sent father away! You turned your back on your own flesh and blood! You betrayed your last name and changed it! From O'Conner, to Falcon! You are putrid," he said and spit on her shoes. "That is why I am here. To challenge you!"  
By this time, Ron was fully awake and was, as quiet as he could, trying to get himself out of the ropes that restrained his hands feet and mouth, and to get himself out of the bag covering his head. He had already gotten his hands free, and was working on the bag.  
Gwen hesitated. She didn't want to fight Xander. She knew she wasn't as powerful as him.   
Ron had himself free of all the ropes except the ones on his feet. Slowly, one at a time, he pulled his feet free.  
"Come on Gwen! It is just a little challenge. No? Maybe a little motivation will help. Leanosa!" Xander hissed. A flash issued from his wand and knocked Gwen onto her back.  
"STOP!" Ron yelled and hurled a badly aimed stone at Xander's head. Instead it hit him in the shoulder.  
"Oh, ouch. That hurt. How primitive of you," he laughed and said another charm that made Ron fly into the nearest tree.  
"FINE!" Gwen screamed to get his attention off of Ron, "I accept your challenge."  
"Very well! This ought to be fun," he laughed again.  
Gwen readied herself. 'Left foot slightly back. Wand up. Concentrate, Gwen!' she ordered to herself. The wind blew her hair into her face, but she didn't care. All of her senses were alert. She was ready. Even the wind seemed to be ready, it blew silently.   
All around her was silence.  
"Come on Xander."  
Then it started. Xander sent blow after blow. His skill was amazing. The best Gwen could do was block. The spells ricocheted off of a magic shield she brought up around her. The spells hit: trees and knocked them over, hit the grass and made it shrivel and die in seconds, hit flowers and made them explode like tiny firecrackers on the fourth of July. One last blow and her shield failed. She flew back and landed with a thud on the cold damp grass. Rain began to sprinkle down around them.  
"Finally!" Xander said with a look of triumph, "Evil defeats good. Avada Kadavra!"  
But the killing curse never came.  
"AVADA KADAVRA!"  
Nothing.  
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?"  
Gwen stared into his enraged eyes. His beautiful eyes. She knew, she finally understood.  
"Xander. You can't kill me," she paused, "You can't kill me, because you know I love you, and somewhere in the blackness inside of you, you know that you love me, too. I am your sister. You can't kill me."  
"I DON'T LOVE YOU!" He screamed in a rage so violent that the whole earth seemed to echo with his voice. 'He won't let me,' he added to himself.  
Ron, fully recovered, stood up and looked at Gwen who motioned for him to stay back.  
"Maybe you don't," she said quietly, taking a step towards him, "But your magic still thinks you do."  
"NOOO! NOOOOO! EVIL DEFEATS GOOD! THAT'S THE WAY IT HAS TO BE! YOU WILL SEE!!!" he screamed. A violent boom and a flash issued from his wand as he disappeared. Gwen was thrown back to the ground and Ron back into the tree.  
Dumbledore stepped out of the entrance doors followed by Madam Pomfrey just as Xander disappeared. Immediately they were thrown to the floor, but unlike Gwen and Ron, they weren't hit as hard and they never lost consciousness.   
"Albus? I thought no one could disapperate on school grounds?"  
"They can't." Dumbledore replied.  
"Then what happened?"  
"Xander O'Conner isn't just anyone."  
"What is he then?"  
"One of the most powerful wizards in the world." was his reply.  
Madam Pomfrey just got up and started making her way towards where Gwen and Ron lay followed by Dumbledore. While they were walking, Gwen regained consciousness and sat up. When she saw them walking towards here she laid back down. Dumbledore, with his long strides, was the first to reach her.  
"Ah, I see you're awake. To the hospital wing you and Mr. Weasley must go," he told her calmly.  
"Ok," she whispered back and fainted.  
  
Gwen was running through the Forbidden Forest, away from a shadowy figure. The faster she would go, the faster it would gain on her.  
"I have to run! I have to escape!"  
"Come back, my sweet!" The shadow taunted.  
"Go away! Leave me alone."  
"You know I can't do that!"  
She saw a hut ahead of her. The figure was gaining on her the whole time. She ran faster. Her heart was racing so fast she thought it would leap out of her throat.  
"I have to run! I have to run faster! Leave me alone!"  
"I'll catch you! You can't escape! Why are you running, my sweet? Why do you run from your own father?" the shadow questioned.  
"I don't have a father!" she screamed.  
"Ah, but you do! I am right here, right here, beside you." the shadow had caught up with her. It reached out a frail thin hand and grabbed her wrist.  
"NO!" she screamed, "Let me go! Why are you doing this! STOP! HELP ME!"  
  
"HELP!" Gwen cried.  
"Gwen! It's ok! It's only a dream," someone cooed at her right.  
Gwen opened her eyes. She was drenched with sweat. Ron was sitting beside her bed with a bandage wrapped around his head. He was holding her hand and trying to wipe the sweat from her forehead.   
He noticed her staring at his head, "I got a concussion when I hit the tree. No big deal."  
"Oh," she said in a weak voice, "Are you all right?"  
"I just said no big deal. I am just fine. What about you? What did you see in your dream?"  
"Nothing. I am fine," she lied.  
Madam Pomfrey walked up to them and handed them both huge blocks of chocolate. "One again, Mr. Weasley, you have gotten yourself into trouble. Will you ever learn?"  
"Umm…no?" was his reply.  
"Very funny. Now back into bed with you. Miss Falcon, you chose the wrong boy to become friends with."  
"What? Why?"  
"He has been in bed rest every year here at Hogwarts."  
"Have not!" he debated, "Wait, never mind, you're right. No, what about second year?"  
"I don't know! I don't really try to keep up with your injuries, Mr. Weasley. Now go to sleep!"  
"Wait! What day is it? Did I miss the match against Hufflepuff?" Gwen demanded.  
"I am afraid you will, it is tonight,"  
"No! I can't!"  
"You will," Madam Pomfrey insisted with a sharp eye.  
"Why?"  
"Because you are not fit to leave. Besides, they already have a replacement for you."  
"Who?"  
"Ginny Weasley, I believe. She is very good indeed."  
"Ginny? Go Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, "She always wanted to be a keeper. I am so proud of her!"  
"Bed, now!" Madam Pomfrey ordered with a tone in her voice that told Gwen and Ron the conversation was over.  
Even without their beloved Keeper, Gryffindor pulled off a stunning victory for their house. The final score was 160 to 0. Harry had managed to grab the snitch only five minutes in. Once again, Gryffindor would be playing Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup. And the score for the House Cup lay tied between none other than Gryffindor and Slytherin, again. Who ever wins the Quidditch Cup will win the House cup, too. At least that was how it was before Dumbledore gave Ron and Gwen their points for the defeat over Xander. Sixty points each, making them 120 points ahead of Slytherin. The Quidditch Cup was only worth 100 points so Gryffindor automatically would almost certainly win the House Cup, but didn't know it, yet. So the upcoming quidditch match was the talk of the school.  
The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor students was brutal in the corridors. Once again, Harry and his teammates had to be ushered around with a crowd of friends so they wouldn't get harmed by any Slytherins. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws took up the offer to help the team. They'd love to see the Slytherins lose again. Anyway they could help they were ready and willing.  
"I feel like a movie star with fans all about!" Gwen said one day.  
"Now you know how I feel," Harry said with a laugh.  
"I like this! It's cool. Too bad I can never get to class on time. Oh well."  
That night was the big match and no one seemed to be paying any attention in class to the great annoyance of all the teachers.  
"Come now!" Professor McGonagall had said in frustration during one of those times, "If you aren't going to pay attention, you might as well not be here at all. This is the first time, and last, that I will do this, but, class dismissed!"  
"Wow! Thanks Professor!" Seamus Finnigan exclaimed.  
"The last time, I remind you!" she yelled as all the students swarmed out of her classroom. "Never again" she said to herself, "I am getting to soft."  
"No you're not!" Ron said as he was walking past, "You're are becoming nice!"  
"Thank you Mr. Weasley," she said with a laugh.  
Professor McGonagall wasn't the only one to let her class out early. As a matter of fact, most teachers took this easy approach to the problem of getting their students to pay attention.   
The Gryffindor Quidditch team sat together at dinner.   
"Come on guys! You all have to eat!" Harry urged.  
"You sound like Oliver, Harry." said Angelina with a sigh, "I miss Oliver."  
"Me too," said Katie.  
"I think we all do," George announced.  
"But at least he is doing what he loves. Did you hear he made the Chudley Cannons?" Fred asked.  
"No!" Harry said surprised, "When did that happen?"  
"He sent us a letter about a month back telling us so," George said with a smug grin.  
"Congratulations to our old captain Oliver! I propose a toast! To Oliver!"  
"To Oliver!" they all cheered.  
"Who's Oliver?" Gwen whispered to Hermione.  
"I'll tell you later," she whispered back, "To Oliver!"  
  
It was going to be a difficult match. The weather was rainy and the sun had already gone down, but that couldn't ruin the mood nor the excitement of the crowd. This time the championship was really early in the year, and the students didn't know if they liked it too much.   
The hour came when it was time for the quidditch team members to make their ways down to the field. Malfoy, who was still playing seeker for Slytherin, decided he was going to try and talk to Gwen before they were to face each other in the match.  
"Falcon. I…I need to talk to you," he said once he had caught up to her.  
"What is it Malfoy? I need to get ready."  
"Well…umm…it is…just…" he stuttered.  
'What is wrong with him?' Gwen thought. "Spit it out Malfoy!"  
"It's Draco," he said quietly.  
"What?"  
"Call me Draco."  
"Why?"  
"Can I call you Gwen?"  
"No. What is it?"  
"Umm…do you like me, Gwen? I mean Miss Falcon. Do you like me Miss Falcon." he managed to say with an uncharacteristic squeak.  
"What? No! Go away Malfoy! You can't expect someone to like you when you completely hate all their friends. Malfoy? Why the hell do you like me?"  
"Oh…ok…I…I never said I liked you," he recovered into a scowl from a hurt expression on his face. He turned and walked away.  
"Uh oh. Maybe I was too harsh on him? Uh oh. This can't turn out well. No, I am positive this can't turn out well," she kept on muttering as she walked to the locker room to change into her quidditch robes. She was almost to the entrance of the locker room when she was stopped once again, only this time by Ron.  
"Hi Gwen! I…umm…just wanted to wish you luck. Well, good luck," he said and turned around to go.  
"Wait!" Gwen answered with a slight laugh as she put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around, "Is that all you came here to tell me?"  
"To tell you? Yes. To do? No," he said quietly and gave her a quick kiss.  
"Ron, what was that for?" Gwen answered softly.  
"For luck," he said now blushing furiously as he turned and left a stunned Gwen behind.  
"I do believe I am falling in love with that silly git," she said with a shake of her head as she opened the locker room door. She changed into her robes and was ready, sitting with the rest of her teammates as they listened to their new captain's pep talk.  
"Ok guys, I don't exactly know how to do this, but I am going to try anyways. Last time we won the Quidditch Cup, we won it for our present captain at the time, Oliver Wood. Let's win it again for him. For Oliver Wood and his memory as the greatest Gryffindor captain in the history of Hogwarts. Let's win it for Oliver!"  
"So that is who Oliver is!" Gwen managed to blurt out causing an eruption of laughter from her team mates, "Oops, sorry."  
"To Oliver!" Fred and George chanted as they banged their beater clubs together.   
"Hands in a circle everyone!" Gwen called. After getting a confused look from everyone she decided she would explain, "It's a muggle thing. In America you put your hands in the center of a circle and say a cheer."  
"Ok," Harry said, "Hands in a circle."  
"Three cheers for Oliver and a victory for Gryffindor!" Gwen screamed, "1...2...3...!!"  
"GO GRYFFINDOR!" everyone in the locker room called three times.   
"Let's go!" Harry yelled and they all ran out into the field to an eruption of noise from three quarters of the crowd decked out in Gryffindor colors.  
The teams took their places and waited for Madam Hooch's signal.   
"I know that emotions run high at the championships each year, but remember that that you all are to play a clean game! This year I will be paying more attention to those who cannot fully comprehend this little detail. Penalty shots to the other team may be rewarded or even expulsion from the game for the rule breaker. On extreme circumstances, your team may even be subject to forfeit. Remember this! 3...2...1...GO!" Madam Hooch yelled, and the players were off.  
"Once again we have Gryffindor and Slytherin against each other in the Quidditch Cup," Fred and George's friend Jordan, who was still narrator, announced to the crowd as the game began, "It gets kind of boring narrating for the same two teams every year, but I guess it's all right."  
"Jordan, don't push me!" McGonagall said to him trying to get his focus back on the game.  
"Geez, alright. Sorry. It's Katie Bell for Gryffindor in possession of the quaffle as she runs or rather flies down the field towards the goals. Bell passes to Angelina Johnson. Johnson throws the quaffle…" An 'oowww' erupted from the field, "Blocked by Slytherin. Slytherin captain Garnell Flugh in possession of the quaffle."  
Gwen watched as Flugh made his way directly at her. She concentrated on his hands as he passed the quaffle back and forth between them. 'Come on. Come on,' she thought to herself. 'Concentrate.'  
"Oh! Nice save by the exchange student, Gwen Falcon," Jordan announced as Gwen quickly threw the quaffle back to Angelina, "Johnson once again in possession. Come on Angelina! Get it past those bloody jerks!"  
"JORDAN!"  
"Oops, sorry Professor. Get it past those, umm, Slytherins! Watch out for that bludger! Oooohhhh, narrow miss. Nice save by beater Fred Weasley, or is that George? It is so hard to tell from down here. Oh well."  
Harry sat far above the main action waiting for a glint of gold or a rush of wings flying by. He noticed Malfoy wasn't paying too much attention to the game, rather, he was paying all his attention to Gwen. He seemed to be watching her every move. 'Or is he waiting for something to happen?' Harry thought. Just then he watched as both of the Slytherin beaters aimed their bludgers at her and saw one hit her square in the face as one hit her in her right leg. Gwen hadn't been paying much attention to the beaters as she tried to concentrate all her attention on the quaffle. She didn't see them until it was too late.   
"FOUL!" Ron screamed from the stands as Gwen fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and flew down to Gwen.  
"Are you all right Miss Falcon?" she asked a stunned Gwen who was surprisingly still conscious.   
"I'll be fine," she croaked in reply, "Make my nose stop bleeding and I'll be fine."  
"You aren't thinking of continuing to play are you?" Madam Hooch said in utter shock.  
"Yes! I have to. Watch out, let me get up," Gwen pushed her back so that she could stand up, "See. I'm not broken so I am going back up."  
"Miss Falcon, are you sure you're all right?"  
"I'm fine! My leg hurts a little, but I will be up in the air so it won't matter. Make my nose stop bleeding and I am going to resume my post," she said stubbornly.  
"If you say so. Temporus stipolumus," she said while pointing her wand at Gwen's nose. Immediately it stopped bleeding and Gwen mounted her broom and kicked off to resume her post, "TWO PENALTY SHOTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" Madam Hooch yelled.   
"Gwen sure is made of some strong stuff!" Ron announced to Hermione and Hagrid. All three of them had prime seats in the stands.  
"Ya Ron, ya've got yourself a keeper. No pun intended of course," Hagrid joked back.  
"Katie Bell easily puts both through the goal earning Gryffindor 20 points to Slytherins 0," Jordan said, "It's a miracle that Falcon is all right. I could have sworn that she was dead…"  
"Back to the game, Jordan," McGonagall urged.  
"Ok, Flugh in possession. Wait? Look at Potter? Nope, never mind. Back to the game," Harry had just done a feign dive to get Malfoy's attention off of Gwen. Harry watched as he signaled Madam Hooch to call a time out. He watched as Malfoy told something to the Slytherin beaters before calling time in. Once again, Malfoy's eyes were locked on Gwen. Harry looked at her and couldn't believe she was still able to fly. A bludger to the face was enough force to put most professional players out of the game, but she was remarkably still there! She was there, sure, but barely.   
Gwen could barely see because she had such a huge headache, and her knee was throbbing with pain. She knew that if she was even touched by another player she would collapse, and only this time she knew she wouldn't be getting up. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Malfoy and his fellow Slytherin beaters were hoping for. They were going to do the same thing as before, only make it legal. Beaters are allowed to hit the keeper with the bludgers when the quaffle is within scoring range. All they had to do was wait and then they could get her out of the game completely, and it was all legal, well mostly.   
Harry realized what they were going to do as one of the Slytherin chasers came flying down the field towards Gwen, ready to score. There was nothing Harry could do but watch Gwen or watch for the snitch. Everything was on him now. They were going to take Gwen out of the game, but they still had Ginny ready to be able to take her place. He was their last chance to win the game. He knew that what the Slytherins were doing was legal and that no penalty shots were going to be awarded. "Poor Gwen, she is going to be killed,' he said to himself and as if Gwen had heard his thoughts she looked up at him and smiled; she knew her fate. Just then a glimmer of gold came in sight out of the corner of his eye. 'The golden snitch!' he thought, 'Maybe we can win this game after all.' With a little more hope he went off in the direction of the snitch.  
'He's seen the snitch,' Gwen thought, 'Maybe we might win without me anyway.'   
Harry reached out his arm as he gained on the snitch. Malfoy was probably still watching Gwen. 'What a sicko,' he thought. He was almost there…just one more second…he reached…he felt the snitch closed firmly in his hand as he heard another 'oowwhhh' coming from the crowd. Gwen had received two legal bludgers to the stomach and was slowly gliding to the ground on her broom. Her broom was of a very good brand which, without any aid, could get its rider safely to the ground.  
"I'VE GOT THE SNITCH!" Harry screamed to Madam Hooch who was flying straight towards Gwen once again. She turned to fly towards him to inspect that he had actually caught it and saw the tiny golden ball held in his hand.  
"Well, so you have! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" she yelled to the crowd, "Again," she added so only Harry could hear, "Now I must inspect Miss Falcon if you would excuse me."  
"Did you hear that Professor McGonagall? Gryffindor won!" Jordan yelled to the crowd. Some cheering was heard, but most attention was turned towards the small huddle of people on the ground.   
Gwen sat unconscious on the ground with Madam Hooch and even Dumbledore crouched around her.  
"We'd better get her to the Hospital Wing," Dumbledore announced and conjured up a stretcher, "Get back, please." He led the stretcher and half the crowd over to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey took over.  
  
"RUN!" Gwen screamed to Ron. They dashed down the spiral staircase to their right and through the entrance hall.   
"Who is that Gwen? And why are we running from him?" he asked while catching up with her.  
"That's my father."  
"Why are we running? We should stay and fight!" he said and turned to confront Mr. O'Conner. Gwen was about to reply with 'with what? We haven't got our wands,' but it was too late. Mr. O'Conner pulled out his wand and simply dropped Ron to the floor.  
"NO!" Gwen yelled even though she could tell Ron wasn't dead. She turned and ran toward the forest…  
Gwen was running through the Forbidden Forest, away from a shadowy figure. The faster she would go, the faster it would gain on her.  
"I have to run! I have to escape!"  
"Come back, my sweet!" the shadow taunted.  
"Go away! Leave me alone."  
"You know I can't do that!"  
She saw a hut ahead of her. The figure was gaining on her the whole time. She ran faster. Her heart was racing so fast she thought it would leap out of her throat.  
"I have to run! I have to run faster! Leave me alone!"  
"I'll catch you! You can't escape! Why are you running, my sweet? Why do you run from your own father?" the shadow questioned.  
"I don't have a father!" she screamed.  
"Ah, but you do! I am right here, right here, beside you." the shadow had caught up with her. It reached out a frail thin hand and grabbed her wrist.  
"NO!" she screamed, "Let me go! Why are you doing this! STOP! HELP ME!"  
"You don't need any help Gwen. You have me! Your father," she was pulled to the ground and held there by her "father."  
"LET ME GO! RON WAKE UP!!! HELP ME!"  
"Shh…shh…calm down. I am not going to hurt you. Only show you the error of your ways. Like I did to Xander."   
Gwen spit in his face, "Xander came to us and told us you killed our mother. I have forgiven him because he came back to our side. HELP! RON!"  
  
"HELP!" Gwen screamed as she woke up in the Hospital Wing.  
"Shh…It's ok Gwen. I am here," Ron comforted her once again.  
She opened her eyes and looked directly at Ron, "I never got to talk to you last night after you…you know."  
"That wasn't last night," he said turning slightly pink at the ears, "That was almost a week ago."  
"Really? I wasn't hurt that bad…was I?"  
"You got hit by four bludgers! One to the nose, one to the shin, and two to the stomach, of course you were hurt that bad! Why were you screaming? Did you have the same dream again?"  
"Yes, but I think I finally know what it all means."  
"What? What does it mean?"  
"I think my father is coming, or maybe he is already here."  
"What? Are you certain?"  
"He was in the dreams…the nightmares. I…I can just feel him. It's just…something in my blood is telling me he is here. It's like you know something is going to happen, but you don't know when. It's kind of hard to explain."  
"Oddly enough, I do understand. It's kind of like when you eat something bad and you know you're going to throw-up you just don't know when."  
"That's disgusting, Ron."  
"Sorry, how can I help? Do you want me to go get Dumbledore?"  
"No, go get Harry and make sure he brings that map of his."  
"How do you know about his Maurader's Map?"  
"He told me about it one day. I think it might be able to help me tell if my father really is here."  
"Gwen? Don't you think you should wait a little while? You have only just woken up after being asleep for a week!"  
"I will be fine! Do you want to help me or not?"  
"Always," he answered and ran out the door.  
"Was that Mr. Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she walked in to give Gwen her medicine.  
"Yes ma'am."  
"You'd better go back to sleep. You still seem a bit weak, and take your medicine. I need to go tell Professor Dumbledore that you're awake. He has been very eager to see you, and I am sure he will be very pleased."  
"Alright," Gwen said politely taking her medicine from Madam Pomfrey, "Umm…will this make me fall back asleep."  
"It has only mild ingredients, but yes, it may cause you to fall asleep. Why do you ask?"  
"I just don't like falling into unnatural sleeps. I tend to wake up with a headache," she lied.  
"Alright, but please do drink it. I'll be back shortly," Madam Pomfrey said and left the ward to get Dumbledore. After pouring out her medicine, Gwen pulled the curtains that hung around her bed closed so no one could see her, and grabbed her tank top and capri pants off of her bedside table. She always wore them under her robes. She quickly got changed and pulled back the curtains right when Ron walked in the room followed by Harry.  
"Ah, good. You're back! Do you have your map Harry?" Gwen asked as Ron took his seat beside her and Harry stood by her bed. Ron took her hand, but Harry pretended not to notice.  
"Yes, but what's going on? Ron wouldn't tell me anything!"  
"I have reason to believe that my father may be here for me, and this is the only way I can find him without him finding me."  
"Umm…alright," he said and handed her the map, "How do you know he may be here?"  
"She had a dream," Ron said, proud that he knew something that Harry didn't.  
"And your dream told you he was here?"  
"Not exactly. It actually showed me running from him, but we were on school grounds."  
"Oh, that's comforting," Ron said with a worried expression on his face, "Can you see him on the map?"  
"No! There are too many students running about everywhere! I'll never find him like this! If only someone had seen him or something," Gwen concluded miserably.  
"I have," came a quiet but calm voice near the entry door. Ron jumped to his feet; Harry just fell over in shock.  
"GET OUT!" Ron yelled.  
"Gwen…wait…I have to tell you something."  
"Get out Xander!" Gwen said as she stepped barefoot out of bed onto the cold granite.  
"Gwen…listen to me."  
"Listen to you? You tried to kill me!"  
"Gwen, your…our mother, she's dead," he said seriously with a slight sound of pain in his voice.  
"YOU LIE!" she yelled walking towards him.  
"I'm sorry, Gwen. I was wrong," he lowered his eyes to the floor to escape Gwen's venomous gaze. She may have been short, but her eyes made up for what she lacked in height.  
Gwen stepped up to him and "SLAP," She took a step back before saying, "Why should I believe you? You tried to kill me! You kidnapped Ron!"  
"Gwen…I wasn't…I didn't know…I didn't want him to kill her! He said that if…if I killed you, then he'd let her go! You have to believe me!"  
"Gwen?" Ron asked.  
"What?!" she snapped before realizing Ron was the one who spoke, "I mean, what is it?"  
"Dumbledore gave you a letter, and he said you should read it when you had the chance. When I asked him what was in it, he said that your mother had died."  
"What? You waited this long to tell me?"  
"Just read the letter, please," he answered quietly feeling guilty. She picked up a small envelope addressed to her; inside was a neatly folded letter. It said this:  
  
Dear Gwendolyn Falcon,  
  
It is my sorrowful duty to inform you of the death of your mother, Lialicana Snape-O'Conner…  
  
Gwen stopped and dropped the letter, "He was telling the truth?"   
"I am afraid so, Gwen," Ron answered, "At least the part about your mother. I'm sorry."  
Gwen grabbed her Doc Martin boots that were sitting by the bed and put them on.  
"Where are you going?" the nearly forgotten Harry asked.  
"Away, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey will be back any minute. Once they are here, I will never be able to leave. So I am leaving now," she pushed Xander out of her way and exited out of the Hospital Wing, leaving her wand behind. Ron looked at Harry for advice.  
"Don't look at me! She's your girlfriend!" he said.  
"Ah! Gwen, wait! Please!" he called as he ran after her. He was a much faster runner and easily caught up with her, "Gwen!" he said as he grabbed her shoulder, spun her around and pleaded, "You know I'll follow you anywhere, but please, please don't run off. Your father might be out there!"  
"Good!" she said with a roll of her eyes.  
"Gwen! Listen to me. I don't want you to get hurt. I can't bare even the thought of you getting hurt, but I know how stubborn you can be, and I know this means a lot to you, so no matter where you go, I'm coming."  
"I know," she said and looked down the corridor.  
"You know? I just made a huge, long lecture about how much I care about you and that is all you have to say as a reply?"  
"Ron!" she screamed.  
"What? What did I do?" suddenly sorry for his tone of voice.  
"Ron, look behind you," she said very softly.  
He turned cautiously around and saw a man in a black hooded cloak at the end of the corridor. It seemed to look straight at them, "Bloody hell." Ron said quietly as it raised it's wand. A flash of orange light flew from it and threw them against the floor. The figure walked over to the unconscious pair and tied them up and carried them away.  
A few corridors down stood Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.  
"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey asked referring to the loud crash they just heard.  
"Nothing good," Dumbledore replied.  
  
When Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey finally got to the Hospital Wing everyone was gone except for Harry who was standing outside.  
"What happened here Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked.  
"I don't know. Gwen ran out and Ron followed her, I saw a flash of light, heard a loud bang and came out. I didn't see anyone and I knew you two would be coming soon so I just stay put."  
"For once," Madam Pomfrey added.  
"Which way was the flash coming from?" Dumbledore asked.  
"I don't know! I just saw it through the cracks in the door. I assume it was coming from that way," he pointed to the left, "because Gwen ran that way," he pointed to the right, "Unless the flash came from her. Then it came from that way," he said pointing back to the right."  
"Alright," Dumbledore said with a frown.  
"What are we going to do, Professor?" Harry asked.  
"Search. That is about all we can do."  
"That's it?"  
"Yes, and I do think you should stay out of this one, Harry. Please don't try to go after Gwen and Ron. I will handle it."  
"But Ron is my best friend! And Gwen is my good friend, too. Not to mention she is my best friend's girlfriend…" he mumbled on and on.  
"Please go back to your common room now Mr. Potter."  
"But…"  
"Now," Dumbledore's eyes flashed a dangerous shade of ice blue. Harry decided it was time to go. He turned around and walked straight to the Gryffindor common room intent on speaking to Hermione.  
When he reached the common room he found her sitting with an entire table taken up with her homework. Harry assumed she had started studying for her final exams, "Hermione, I need to talk to you."  
"About what, Harry? Did Gwen wake up?" Hermione said eagerly.  
"She most definitely woke up. It happened so fast. Her brother came and told her that her mother was dead."  
"Wait…" Hermione stopped him, "Is this the same brother that almost killed her? Where is he?"  
"Yes, sure is, but he was trying to tell her he was good again or something. He's still in the Hospital Wing, I think, but that's not the point."  
"He's good again? Was he ever good in the first place?"  
"Yeah, but Gwen didn't believe that he was good again, so she slapped him."  
"Go Gwen," Hermione said obviously impressed.  
"Hermione! This is serious."  
"I am being serious! Look…" she said pointing to herself, "Don't I look serious?"  
"No! Ron and Gwen are in serious danger and all you can do is make jokes!"  
"Harry, calm down, I am being serious! Why are you so grouchy all of a sudden?" but she understood. She knew that Harry was just being jealous because he wasn't the one in the spotlight anymore… "How are they in danger?"  
"I don't know exactly, all I know is that there was a flash of light and a loud noise. Then Dumbledore came and told me to keep out of it!"  
"Wow, this really is serious."  
"I know! Can you believe the nerve of him?" Hermione just looked at him in disbelief.   
'He is so jealous.' she said to herself. "Look, Dumbledore is right. All we can do is wait until he gets this all sorted out. This isn't our fight. Let it go, Harry. Gwen has to do this on her own. And yes, I am being serious. We can't do anything about it. Let…it…go!" Hermione was a witch wise before her time, and deep down inside, Harry knew she was right. There was nothing to do. Except wait. But Harry was stubborn, so he sat down.  
"Are you sure you are Hermione? How do I know that you aren't Xander?" he questioned her.  
With another roll of her eyes she muttered, "Gwen is a midget. There happy?"  
"Fine, you're Hermione. Hey, I just thought of something. All that time that Ron was Xander, or maybe you can say Xander was Ron? Oh well, that's not important; what I was trying to say is why didn't we ever ask Ron the password? I mean, we had just been talking about it that night? Why didn't we remember?"  
"I don't know! Good questions…I guess we just forgot," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.  
"I have another question for you," Harry started, "How did Xander know that Gwen and Ron had been talking that night? Was he there? He had to have been! Then he would know the password! What if you really aren't Hermione!?" With that he leapt from his chair causing several people in the stuffed common room to stare at him.  
"Harry! Stop being paranoid! Seriously. I am Hermione, as me anything," she insisted pulling on his sleeve trying to make him sit back down.  
"Umm, ok…what is Lupin's first name?"  
"Remus. Satisfied?"  
"For now," he replied and crossed his arms across his chest.  
"You're so frustrating!" Hermione screamed. This time it was her turn to get stared at.  
Harry sat down next to Hermione with a thud. He would wait right there until Gwen or Ron or even Professor Dumbledore came and told him the news. Yep, he would wait…right there…stubborn as a donkey. Unless he lost his sanity first.  
  
Gwen was sitting in a closet somewhere. She could feel someone sitting next to her, but she wasn't sure whom it was. 'Maybe it's Ron,' she thought. She began working on trying to free her hands from the ropes that bound them. Luckily they were loose and poorly tied. The person who had tied them must have been in a big hurry, but why would they put her in a closet? And why were they in a hurry? It didn't really matter as long as it benefited her. That's if you can call trying to free yourself from uncertain death beneficial.  
She got her hands free and pulled the piece of cloth out of her mouth. She couldn't see anything because there wasn't any light other than the dim light coming through the cracks between the door and its frame. She quickly untied her feet and felt around for the other person. She pulled the cloth from his mouth and realized that it was Ron and he was unconscious.   
Outside she could hear something moving around. She pressed her ear to the door and heard someone pacing back and forth across a granite floor. She listened closer and heard the footsteps retreating. She searched her robes to see if she still had her wand. No such luck. 'Does Ron still have his?' she wondered. She crawled back over to him and gently shook him awake.  
"Wha…what is it? Where am I?" he said frantically trying to sit up.  
"Shh….we have to be quiet. I don't know when they'll be back," Gwen whispered into his ear.  
"Who?" he said a bit more quietly.  
"Whoever was outside. I think it was the person who kidnapped us. Do you have your wand?"  
"No."  
"Great. Look how well we have done in school, we can't even manage to keep a hold on our own wands. I guess they probably took them."  
"Probably."  
"Let's get out of here why we still have the chance," she whispered and turned the doorknob to leave. Luckily, no one was in sight and the door was ironically unlocked. "Our kidnappers certainly aren't very cautious now are they?" Gwen said with what resembled a laugh. They crept out and realized they were in the same place as Xander took Ron before.   
They started to run down the corridor towards Dumbledore's office. They turned a corner and saw a shadowy figure standing and staring at them.  
"I was wrong. RUN!" Gwen screamed to Ron. They dashed down the spiral staircase to their right and through the entrance hall.   
"Who is that Gwen? And why are we running from him?" he asked while catching up with her outside.  
"That's my father."  
"Why are we running? We should stay and fight!" he said and turned to confront Mr. O'Conner. Gwen was about to reply with 'with what? We haven't got our wands,' but it was too late. Mr. O'Conner pulled out his wand and simply dropped Ron to the floor.  
"NO!" Gwen yelled even though she was pretty sure Ron wasn't dead. Her father wasn't there to kill him. She turned and ran toward the forest…  
  
Gwen was running through the Forbidden Forest, away from a shadowy figure. The faster she would go, the faster it would gain on her.  
"I have to run! I have to escape!"  
"Come back, my sweet!" the shadow taunted.  
"Go away! Leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you."  
"You know I can't do that! I know what you think of me!"  
"And what do I think of you!" she taunted after seeing a hut ahead of her. The figure was gaining on her the whole time. She ran faster. Her heart was racing so fast she thought it would leap out of her throat.  
"I have to run! I have to run faster! Leave me alone!"  
"I'll catch you! You can't escape! Why are you running, my sweet? Why do you run from your own father?" the shadow questioned.  
"I don't have a father!" she screamed.  
"Ah, but you do! I am right here, right here, beside you," the shadow had caught up with her. It reached out a frail thin hand and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the ground.  
"NO!" she screamed, "Let me go! Why are you doing this! STOP! HELP ME!"  
"Ahh, poor Gwen. This time you know you aren't going to wake up from this. Don't call for help! You don't need any help, Gwen. You have me! Your father," she was pulled to the ground and held there by her "father."  
"You gave me the dreams? You wanted me to know that you were coming?"  
"No no, see honey, your darling brother Xander thought of that little detail all by himself. He said he was trying to warn you or something. I punished him for that, deeply," his eyes flashed a brilliant shade of orange. Almost like liquid fire, "But I guess it worked out for the best now didn't it? At least for me. It didn't save you now did it?"  
Gwen's heart pounded. She was trapped, pinned to the floor. She knew of nothing else to do but…scream, "LET ME GO! RON WAKE UP!!! HELP ME!"  
"Shh…shh…calm down. I am not going to hurt you, much. Only show you the error of your ways. Like I did to Xander."   
Gwen spit in his face, "Xander came to me and told me you killed my mother. I have forgiven him because he came back to our side."  
"I know, I know. I obviously did something to the boy to make him fall back into ranks with you. Wonder what it could have been?" He said with fake sincerity.  
"Did you kill her? Did you kill my mother?"  
"That horrible wench? Of course. I took pleasure in it. It's her own fault you know. Her and her horrid brother turned me in to the Ministry. You didn't seriously believe I'd let her go unpunished?" with that he sighed a long deep sigh, "Or perhaps you did. I see a high intelligence doesn't really run in your family. You, Your mother, Severus, and Xander all believed you were safe from me. Pity…I see I have proved you wrong."  
Silent tears ran down Gwen's cheek, "How can you just walk into Hogwarts? How come no one stops you? There is supposed to be a barrier on the castle. How can you get through?"  
"It is nothing compared to the power source I have plugged my magic into!"  
"How? What?"  
"Emotions…pure emotions from all of the little kiddies at your school feed my magic. Like you, right now, all you are doing is making me stronger!"  
"No! How the hell…?" she started to ask but was interrupted.  
"Hell, yes, that is what we called it. At prison, I mixed with all sorts of low-life scum. One just happened to be a corrupt scientist who had discovered a way to tap into emotions. I stole his plans that he had spent years writing down on napkins he stole from the cafeteria, and as soon as Xander freed me, I used them. I made the potion, and now, I can do anything. Well, to a certain extent. To all who would do me wrong in the school, they can't see me. Not one bit, unless I allow them to. Like you, Xander, and whoever your little boyfriend is. I need to meet that chap, give him a talking to," his eyes wandered towards the school, now hidden by the dense forest.  
"Oh don't play the role of my father now," she scowled bitterly.  
"No? Alright, I'll just kill him then," he said with a cold laugh, "See, you were foolish enough to run right to the very place I have been staying for the past few days. This little hut about 20 feet away. I will lock you in. One by one, I'll round up all of the people you love, and kill them. I'll save you for last. First, to go get your little friend. He is lying right in front of the school, but no one can see him because he is cloaked in my magic. Both of you are cloaked in my magic, or should I say your magic, since I am boring it from people like you? Get up and get in the hut!"  
He pulled her to her feet and dragged her, kicking and flailing, to the hut. She dug her nails into his arm, but nothing worked.  
"Stop it! You can't just leave me here! Someone will find me. Hagrid will! He knows this forest like the back of his hand! Let go of me! Harry Potter has a magical map and he will notice that I am here. They'll save me, or else I'll save myself!" he mind wanted to grasp onto any possibility of escape, "You can't kill me! I am your daughter. You love me, father, you do!" she had sunken as low as she could go. She tried to do what she did to Xander. At first it seemed to work. He turned around and stared into her eyes. Gwen thought she noticed a hurt look in his orange eyes, but as quick as it seemed to come, it vanished.  
"Ah, don't get all sweet on me now. You are lying. I am not capable of loving. You mother was good enough to tell me that over a decade ago!"  
"How dare you speak of my mother!" with that Gwen threw a well-aimed kick towards the worst spot any male can ever be kicked. O'Conner only reacted with a tightening of his grip. 'Damn! I thought for sure that would work,' Gwen thought to herself.  
"Don't even try to escape this place. Completely locked, no way can you get out. You can only get in," and he threw down on the dirt floor and slammed the door of the tiny hut. She could hear as he laughed his malicious laugh and went whistling towards where Ron last was.  
  
Ron woke up with a searing pain in his dislocated shoulder. He saw as the cloaked figure Gwen called her father vanished into the woods still hot in his pursuit. He knew that he wasn't going to be forgotten, and that there was no time, he had to follow them if he was going to save Gwen, or even save himself. Luckily he didn't waste time going back to the school because he wouldn't have been able to get help anyway. He was invisible to everyone except Gwen and Mr. O'Conner. So off he went to the spot where he had last seen them disappear. He stumbled on through the forest until he could hear Gwen crying out.  
"LET ME GO! RON WAKE UP!!! HELP ME!" he could hear her say.  
"Shh…shh…calm down. I am not going to hurt you, much. Only show you the error of your ways. Like I did to Xander," said another voice  
"Xander came to me and told me you killed my mother. I have forgiven him because he came back to our side," Gwen's voice again.  
"I know, I know. I obviously did something to the boy to make him fall back into ranks with you. Wonder what it could have been?" The second voice said.  
"Did you kill her? Did you kill my mother?" Ron didn't want to hear it. He had to think quickly and keep out of sight. He stood transfixed on the scene in front of him, then he saw Mr. O'Conner pick Gwen up and watched as he threw her inside and sped off towards the castle. Ron crept around the side of his tree he was behind to make sure he wouldn't be spotted, then ran over to the house and knocked quietly on the door. He could hear Gwen crying on the inside.  
"Gwen," he whispered through the keyhole.   
Inside an amazed Gwen sat bolt upright on the floor. Had she just heard a knock? Had someone whispered he name? She crawled to the door and whispered, "Who's there?"  
"Gwen? Are you all right? It's me, Ron. Are you ok?" Ron sighed a huge sigh of relief.  
"Ron?" she said with disbelief before answering, "I am fine, but you have to get me out of here, no, you have to get out of here! He is looking for you. Once he finds you're gone, he'll come back, he'll search for you, but you're invisible to all but him and I. He said he put a spell on us; we're cloaked in his magic. You can't get any help. What are we going to do?"  
Ron put his hand on the doorknob. It probably wouldn't work. Mr. O'Conner was very smart. He wouldn't be dumb enough as to not lock the door. Would he? Ron sighed. He took in a deep breath, silence, he turned the knob. It was unlocked. Mr. O'Conner was a real crackpot. Ron pushed open the door to see Gwen on her knees on the floor.  
"Let's go," he suggested with a smile.  
"Where? Back to the school? We're invisible! Remember?"  
"Oh ya," he said sinking back into a frown, "Whatever we do, we're going together, and it better be now. I have a feeling he's going to find I am gone any second."  
They heard a loud wail followed by an even louder cuss word.  
"I think he just found out! Run, let's beat him to Hagrid's hut. Maybe we can hide there, or even just hide in the forest. I'm sure Dumbledore will be able to counter this invisibility spell. Do you think they can hear us?" Gwen suggested.  
"I hope so, let's go. We could even go to Hogsmeade."  
"No, let's go to Hagrid's hut. Then if Harry looks at his map he has, he'll be able to tell Dumbledore where we are. I know why we couldn't find my father on the map. This hut is just outside of the area the map covers. Whatever, we have got to go, he's coming."   
Ron stepped back to allow Gwen through the door as she stood up. She walked forward and was met with force that threw her clear into the back wall. She sat up and messaged her forehead.   
"What the hell was that?" she asked.  
"Obviously your father isn't as stupid as he seemed. He has conjured a force field around the hut. I could probably come in, but would never be able to come out. Damn it! Why couldn't he have just locked the door? Fred and George taught me how to pick locks, well, muggle ones anyway. Back on track here, what do you want me to do? I can go get Harry or even go get your wand. I think you left it in the Hospital Wing."  
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier? We should have ran there instead of outside! Why did we run outside? We should have gone someplace with lots of people!"  
"Good questions…but what the hell do you want me to do? Spit it out Gwen! He's coming!!!"  
"Fine, go. Sorry. Remember, you are invisible," With that he peaked around the side of the hut. After seeing the coast was clear, he sprinted off toward the castle. He made sure to stay well out of Mr. O'Conner's way.   
He ran as fast as he could across the lawn and into the entrance hall. He knocked a few bewildered first years who weren't supposed to be there down as he flew past, but just kept on running. Up the stairs, three at a time, around the corridor, into the Hospital Wing. He stopped dead in his tracks as before him sat Professor Dumbledore and half of the entire teaching staff of Hogwarts. Obviously they were having a meeting of some sort. He caught a few lines of what they were saying:  
"We should start the search immediately! My niece is in grave danger!" Snape said loudly.  
"We know Severus, but are we just going to go through the entire school inch by inch to find her?" McGonagall stated clearly.  
"If that is what it takes to keep one of the students safe, then I say let's start!" pitched in Flitwick.  
"I believe we should separate into two parties and search for her. For all we know, she could be held captive in the Forbidden Forest!" Snape said again.  
"Brilliant idea, Severus. You will be the head of one, and I will be the head of a second. Split up please," Dumbledore ordered, "Severus, your group will take the Forbidden Forest as mine will take the main castle. I would like a check in every half hour. Madam Pomfrey will keep a tab on what has been searched here and will update it every time someone checks in."  
Ron screamed at the teachers. They stopped and looked around at the same time readying their wands.  
"Who's there?" Snape questioned thin air.  
"It's me, Ron Weasley, you've got to help Gwen! She's in the forest, there is this man, and she says he is her father….Oh you are running out of time… hurry up and get out there!"  
"Slow down Mr. Weasley! How are you invisible?" Dumbledore stepped towards where he assumed Ron was standing.  
"He did it! Mr. O'Conner. It doesn't matter about me, hurry up and get the hell out there!"  
"Where?" McGonagall said trying to follow Dumbledore's gaze.  
"The Forest, ummm….in a tiny hut, deep in the forest."  
"Details, Weasley, details! My niece is in grave danger, now is not the time to be frank with me!" Snape bellowed. His eyes flashed brilliantly.  
"Umm, I don't know. In the forest…I already told you!"  
"Fine, take me there!" Snape bellowed.  
"I can't I'm kind of invisible. And I don't remember the way. I can try."  
"Then try," Snape said obviously trying to calm himself down and be more sensitive to Ron.  
"Do you think I could go see Harry first?" Ron asked weakly.   
"Whatever for, Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall questioned the air in front of her.  
"I think he may be able to help me find the hut. I'll be back. Go search the forest until I go back," he paused and gulped at his own stupidity before adding, "That's if you would like, sir."  
"Yes, yes, fine. Quickly," Snape glared at him and suddenly Ron didn't feel very invisible.  
"Quickly," Dumbledore repeated.  
"Bye," Ron muttered as he grabbed Gwen's wand off the table and sped away.  
With that all of the teachers got up and divided into groups. Some were to go search the castle, just in case. The others were following Snape to the forest.  
Ron ran up to the Gryffindor Common room and saw Harry looking very upset sitting with his arms crossed before him. Hermione sat next to him working on her homework. He ran up to him almost forgetting he was invisible. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a piece of parchment off of Hermione's table and her quill right from her hands. Not wanting to let anyone but Harry and Hermione know he didn't speak a word. They might get suspicious of him being invisible and all. On the parchment he wrote:  
  
Harry! It's Ron, get the Mauraders' Map!  
Why? How are you invisible?  
A spell, Gwen's in trouble! Get the map!  
OK, hold on, why can't we talk?  
I don't want anyone else to know.   
They might get freaked out because I am invisible.  
  
Harry nodded and ran up to his dorm to get his map. He ran back and set it on the table. He watched as Ron picked it up and it floated in thin air before him. He may have been a wizard and used that kind of stuff, but it still looked pretty cool. Ron searched the map and just like Gwen said, he found that the little hut must be just off the edge of the map. He grabbed the parchment and wrote Harry this:  
  
There is a hut right off the edge of the map.   
That is where Gwen is.  
Mr. O'Conner's there, too  
I have to hurry. Tell Hermione.  
Don't follow.  
  
Harry looked at Hermione with a pleading look.  
"No! You heard Ron, we are not going out there, but we can tell Dumbledore where Ron's off to."  
"Good enough!" Harry said and grabbed his map as he ran towards the door.  
  
Ron bolted out of the common room. On the map he had seen Snape getting close to where he thought the hut was. Snape would either defeat Mr. O'Conner, or be defeated by him. He had to go help. Ron help Snape? Perhaps today was the day when pigs fly.   
  
Gwen sat huddled in the corner on the dirt floor thinking, 'Hurry up, Ron! What is taking him so long?'   
Mr. O'Conner sat outside the hut waiting and listening to the sounds of the calling teachers. Snape's group was getting closer every second, and he wanted to…umm…give Severus a little…surprise welcoming.   
Gwen could distinctly hear the voice of her uncle calling out to her. She felt comfort knowing that everyone was looking for her. She couldn't help but think that maybe her father might have a put more than just a locking spell on the hut. Maybe it was invisible, too. Maybe even if her uncle walked right through it, he would never find them. Who knows how much power her father could have? Almost anything seemed possible. She couldn't call out because her father would punish her. Plus she had this little thing called a gag in her mouth. All she could do was breath, barely, and wait.   
Ron was running through the forest towards Snape voice. He thought that maybe he could push him in the right direction, literally. He caught up to him with great difficulty running through the dense brush of the forest. He found that Snape already was going in the right direction, mostly. Ron could see the hut right ahead, but Snape didn't seem to notice it.  
'Argh!' Ron thought, 'It must be invisible to him! How can I make him see it? I won't, I'll make him feel it. I hope that works.' With that he walked right to Snape and whispered into his ear.  
"Professor Snape, she is in a hut right over there, but you can't see it because it is invisible."  
"Who's there?" Snape said turning around quick as lightning. He searched everywhere with wide eyes, and bumped right into Ron sending him tumbling to the ground.  
"Ouch! Professor, it's me, Ron Weasley!" Ron responded picking himself back up, "Gwen is in the hut, and it is right over there to your left."   
Snape looked over his shoulder, and, seeing nothing, started to get very annoyed, "Finally you're here. I suppose you talked to Mr. Potter. But how do I know you're not lying?"  
"Why the bloody hell would I lie at a time like this!" Ron screamed back to him, "I love her, probably more than you can believe! You are probably the only chance she has!"  
"You what?"  
"I…umm…like her…" he answered in a whisper, shocked that he had just told Snape that he loved his niece. He was sure that if Snape could see him, he'd be clobbered. The reality of the whole situation finally sunk in. He finally loved someone, and he might lose her. Even if they both survived and they, far in the future of course, got married, he, Ronald Weasley, would be related to Snape. He shuddered. But now wasn't the time to think about that.  
"I see," Snape replied, "How can I get into a hut that I can't even see?"  
"The same way as you get into any other hut, only pretend you're blind," Without even so much as a reply, Snape headed to his left with his hands out in front of him. In order for it to be invisible, some of the trees and shrubs must be an illusion to hide the big blank spot in the foliage. In other circumstances, watching Snape fumble around bumping into things would have been extremely funny, but not now.  
"Can't you just lead me to it?" he said after a few minutes of Ron blurting out directions. It was kind of like a serious game of hot and cold.  
"Oh ya, I guess so," Ron ran over to him and reluctantly grabbed his arm. He led him to the wall of the hut and set his palm against it.   
"Thank you." Snape whispered.   
"Gwen isn't the only one in the hut. Mr. O'Conner is in there, too. I'll go in with you and tell you where he is," Ron knew that their plan wasn't a very good one. Mr. O'Conner was a powerful wizard who just happened to be invisible. Even if Snape was more powerful then him, he could never see to hit him. Unless…  
Snape muttered something that made the hut suddenly appear to him. Somehow he knew the counter curse.  
"Can you see it now? Can you see me now?" Ron asked.  
"Yes…sshhh…" Snape answered and crept around the side of the hut. Now Snape had the advantage because Mr. O'Conner still thought he couldn't see. Snape crept to the door and pressed his ear against it. Listening for any sign of life. He heard two voices in a conversation. He knew it was Gwen and her father.  
"What do you want from me other than my life? I swear I can give it to you!" said Gwen's voice from within. She had just recently convinced him to come back inside so as to not see Snape.  
"How can a fifteen year old girl give me what I want?" Mr. O'Conner replied.  
"What is it that you want?" she pleaded ignoring his question.  
"I want my master, the Dark Lord, back in power again! But can you make that happen? No, because it is already happening. All I want is revenge. Revenge for what you, your mother, and my stupid brother-in-law did to me! Locking me up to waste away in an old muggle prison."  
"So all you want is to kill me and my uncle? You have already killed my mom. How could I have put you in jail? I was only 4!"  
"Ahh…but you are your mother's daughter, therefore making you a target."  
"But I thought you just said you wanted revenge for being thrown in jail! Revenge for me throwing you in jail! How could I have done that! If you listen to your own words, you'll see your error. Technically you have nothing against me!"  
"SHUT UP!" Snape heard a yell followed by a loud dull sound. Mr. O'Conner had knocked Gwen out cold with one single punch… Gwen was finally getting to Mr. O'Conner. He was finally feeling his age and feeling hungry, tired, stressed, among many other problems, and Gwen was just feeding the fire. But she wouldn't be doing much of anything for a while since she was now unconscious on the floor.  
Inside the hut, Mr. O'Conner became suddenly very quiet. He thought he had heard something. 'Or someone…' he thought to himself. I wasn't just that he thought he had heard something; it was also the lack of sound coming from the teachers. He began to become suspicious. He also wondered where his daughter's friend had gone. But what can a 15-year-old boy do in a situation like this? Obviously a lot more than he expected. He sat down on the floor and tried to think of a plan. Even though Mr. O'Conner had the reputation of being powerful, he never had the reputation of being very bright, nor of thinking ahead. This would ultimately ruin him.  
Outside, Snape and Ron heard him move around a little, then go silent. Now was their time to also make up a plan. Snape dragged Ron silently just out of earshot of the hut and talked in a low whisper.  
"We have to make a plan. What do you know about the hut? What spells has he put on it?"  
"Umm…" Ron whispered in reply, "He put a force field on it. Once you go in, you can't get out, except for him. I guess he can get in and out, or else he would never have gone in in the first place, would he?"  
"I don't know. He was never the sharpest tool in the shed."  
Ron stared at him in shock. Had Snape just said a cliché? He shook his head. It didn't matter, "I don't think many people are that dumb. Do you think you can counter the spell? And, can everyone see me and the hut now?"  
"I will try to counter the spell. I think I know which one he might have used. And, yes, everyone can see you."  
"And Gwen? And the hut? And Mr. O'Conner?"  
"Yes, yes, and yes. Come now, we haven't much time. I will just simply march in and challenge him. I know for a fact that no O'Conner can refuse a duel for long."  
"Alright. What do I do?"  
"You can slip in and try to get Gwen out, but first I have to counter the spell. Umm…" Snape scratched his chin in deep thought. Then he whispered a counter spell at the hut, "Notocantainum!" The hut glowed a slight shade of blue before returning to its normal color.  
Ron shot a questioning look in Snape's direction. "It worked, I think" was his reply.  
Inside the hut, Mr. O'Conner watched as the hut glowed. He knew they were finally here. He had to think fast. What to do? What to do? All that came to his mind was wait and duel. There was no way to escape. He could flee. Yes, but then he wouldn't get the satisfactory of knowing he could have killed Severus Snape. And why would he flee if this was everything he had in mind in the first place. He always knew breaking out of Alcatraz would only end in his death. It was a suicide mission. One last step in his life. He wanted to die knowing that he was always faithful to his master. Go out with a "Bang." Plus there was always the chance that he could escape.   
He walked to the door of the tiny hut and slowly opened it, "Come in, brother-in -law. I know you're out there somewhere."  
Snape cautiously called back, "There are at least 20 fully trained wizards and witches roaming around the woods at this very second. Don't do anything stupid."  
"Me? Do anything stupid? No, no, no, it is you who are being stupid. Do you honestly believe you can defeat me?" he bluffed.  
"Get over yourself O'Conner. We all know you aren't the most powerful wizard on Earth. You only think you are," Snape said throwing out insults, completely impressing Ron, as he stepped out from behind a tree.  
"Ouch, I am so hurt. Do you know where I am? Can you see me?" he said sarcastically.  
"Yes. Both of your little spells were merely elementary. I believe we learned those in our first years," he motioned for Ron to stay put as he stepped closer to Gwen's father.  
"Once again, ouch. So it's a duel you want? Then a duel you'll get. Would you like to come inside, or is it roomier out here?"  
Snape thought it over very carefully. A stray spell anywhere and someone was bound to get hurt. There were still several teachers in the forest even if they were far away. Curses could travel for miles if unobstructed. Another thing was, the teachers weren't expecting any spells to just hit them in the back, "I think we should go into your place. It looks large enough, no need for anyone besides you getting hurt." Mr. O'Conner opened the door and stepped back as Snape entered, walking backward so he could always keep an eye on his opponent.  
Inside the hut he saw his niece unconscious in a corner.   
As soon as the two adults stepped inside and closed the door, Ron ran up and opened it up a crack to see if he could see Gwen. She was there in a corner closest to his position. He would wait until the duel was under way and run in, hopefully dodging the curses. He heard a cracking of leaves off to his left and stood up quickly, ready to pounce. From behind the hut stepped Xander.  
"What are you doing here?" Ron whispered loudly. He never really could forgive Xander for kidnapping him, and then trying to kill him and his girlfriend, and his eyes showed pure hatred. Do you blame him?  
"Easy now," he said cautiously putting his hands up showing he was harmless, "I am here to help. I want to save my sister."  
"A few days ago all you wanted to do was kill her."  
"I'm sorry, you have to trust me. How can you help?"  
"I am going to get her out," he replied a little taken aback.  
"How? You can't lift her."  
"I can, too!" Ron said a little too loud.  
Xander put his finger to his lips, signaling him to be quieter. He pointed to Ron's arm, "You have obviously hurt you shoulder."   
"How did you know that?" he answered rubbing his shoulder.  
"Well, first off, you have been favoring your other arm. You haven't even been lifting your other one…"  
"Shh…fine, you get her. But I am helping!"   
With a nod of agreement, the two boys opened up the door to see the two wizards in combat position. Neither of the adults dared to look up. Instead, O'Conner started the duel off with a simple disarming spell. Snape brought up a shield and the spell ricocheted off, hitting the ceiling.  
Xander and Ron dashed to Gwen and started to free her of the ropes binding her.  
Snape retaliated with a similarly simple curse to knock him out. Obviously neither wizard wanted to kill the other, just simply stop them.  
Xander picked Gwen up and crept back out of the room followed by Ron. They set her on a soft grassy patch and Ron crept back to the door to see what was happening. Xander stayed with Gwen.  
Snape and O'Conner sent curse after curse flying at each other, the intensity of them gaining with each one.   
Snape sent a spell aimed at O'Conner's legs. He seemed to trip but flipped over and landed back on his feet. "You'll have to do better than that Severus," he said with a laugh. "Podlevante!"  
Snape's feet fell out from under him and he landed with a thud on the floor. He got to his feet and faced his opponent. A trickle of blood ran from his nose.   
"Come on now. Don't tell me you're getting tired?" Mr. O'Conner teased.  
"Ya, tired of your stupid comebacks."  
"Touché."  
Outside Ron winced at Xander, he had heard that once before. 'It must run in their family.' Ron thought.   
"Cryptolapyr!" Snape hurled what seemed like nothing at Mr. O'Conner. The enemy blocked with his own shield and something hit the side of the hut and burst into flames.   
"We're going to have to end this little game soon you know! Unless you want both of us to fry. This place will burn," Mr. O'Conner taunted.  
"Then end it! Why does everything have to end with death in your family?"  
"It doesn't have to end with death. I just like it that way!" he gave a mad grin and laughed his wicked laugh.  
The hut was burning, the heat from the flames made the two figures hard to see from where Ron was kneeling.  
"Tomohydrola!" O'Conner yelled. Water poured from his wand towards Snape. He wasn't fast enough and the pressure from the water managed to cut a huge gash in his left shoulder. He grunted with pain.  
"Glyphodont!" O'Conner was sent wailing as his front two teeth were knocked out by an invisible force.  
"Opto Crytptis!"  
Snape blocked a spell that was meant to blind him.  
"Patheneur," Snape sent a nerve-paralyzing spell at O'Conner. It hit him in the foot. He almost leaned on one of the burning walls.  
There was no more playing around. Mr. O'Conner sent a spell of the most serious nature, "AVADA KADAVRA!"  
'Oh no,' Ron thought.  
As if in slow motion, Snape ducked under the killing curse and sprang back up with a hard kick to O'Conner's stomach. He doubled up with pain as Snape sent another simple spell at him, once again to knock him out. This time, he succeeded. Mr. O'Conner fell to the floor as a cloud of dust filled the fire lit room.  
Snape stared at his defeated opponent until Ron brought him back to reality. "Is it over, Professor?" he said peeking his head back into the room.  
"Yes, call the other teachers over. We need to get him detained," he turned around to look at the red head and noticed he wasn't moving. "What is it, Weasley?"  
"Is he dead?" he said quietly.  
"No. Now go get Professor Dumbledore."  
"No need," came Dumbledore's voice from outside the hut. He said something incomprehensible and the fire went out. Ron turned around and Snape stepped from the hut.  
"Mr. Potter was nice enough to tell me of the happenings. He told me how Mr. Weasley here told him where Miss Falcon was being held. Nice work, Severus."  
"Thank you, Albus. I still believe we should get him back to prison as soon as possible."  
"Yes, we will. But he won't be going back to Alcatraz; he will be going to Azkaban. I have had a little talk with the Ministry in America, they seem to not want him back."  
"Shall we go back to the castle?" Snape asked.  
"You go ahead, I will take care of Mr. O'Conner," he replied with a smile as he stepped in to the hut. Snape bent down to the ground and picked up Gwen. He carried her back to the castle with Ron and Xander in his wake. Leaving Dumbledore to carry out any affairs with Mr. O'Conner that he needed to do.  
When the silent group reached the Hospital Wing, they were greeted by Madam Pomfrey, "Set her down on her usual bed. For once, someone is in here more often than Mr. Potter."  
Snape did as she told him then sat in a seat by her side, "She's been out for a long time. She'll come to any minute now."  
"Severus? Have they captured Mr. O'Conner?"  
"Yes. Albus is dealing with him right now."  
"Good," she said a slight smile flickering across her face, "I think maybe you should go get a bite to eat. All three of you," she added looking mostly at Xander, "You are welcome to join them yourself Alexander O'Conner."  
"Thank you," he replied very quietly.   
The three guys made there way silently to the great hall. Most of the students were bound to be there. All of the teachers would also most likely be done with their searches. When they entered the hall, there was complete silence as everyone stared at them. Some had heard rumors of what had happened, so naturally everyone had their own stories. Many people were surprised to see a stranger coming to dine with them. Ron led Xander over to the Gryffindor table where he sat next to Harry and motioned for him to sit across from him, by Hermione. Most people returned to their original conversations.  
"Hello Ron, hello Xander," Harry said a little cautiously. His arms seemed to permanently be folded across his chest.  
"Hi," the two boys said in unison.  
"How's Gwen?" Hermione dared to ask.  
"She's fine, she's in the Hospital Wing. We'll talk about his later hopefully," Ron replied in a whisper. Hermione and Harry nodded their heads in agreement.   
When the food arrived, all four of them ate in silence for a long time. Hermione once again dared to ask a question, "Where are you staying, Xander?"  
"I have been staying at the Leaky Cauldron, I guess I will be staying somewhere in Hogsmeade tonight though," he replied quietly.  
"Oh," Hermione said, equally quiet.  
"Where will you be staying after that? With Gwen somewhere?" Ron put in.  
"Hopefully."  
"Do you know where that will be?" Harry joined the conversation.  
"Probably Uncle Severus's house."  
"You mean Gwen is going to being staying with Snape?" Ron said an awkwardly.  
"Where else? He's the last family we have," the tone in Xander's voice told Ron the conversation was over.  
Just then, Dumbledore entered the room. Once again, complete silence. He stood up to make a speech.  
"I know that once again you are all curious about the happenings here at Hogwarts. But I must ask you to refrain from sending out rumors of what you have heard. The matters that occurred today are the business of only those who participated in them. If you must find out what happened, you have to ask them, but I encourage those who truly know to keep it to themselves." With that he sat down and began eating his dinner. The students eventually continued their own conversations.   
Although some tried not to spread rumors, it did happen. By the next day, the story was warped way out of proportion. Some people had even caught a rumor that Gwen had just faked it all and that was the reason she hadn't shown her face. Too embarrassed that her little trick had gotten out of hand. Harry, Hermione, and especially Ron tried with all their might to squash that one at least. They would give off little clues of what had really happen, hoping that maybe it would help. They knew that the only way for rumors to stop would be for Gwen herself to come forward with the truth. Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let her out of the Hospital Wing even though she had been awake all day.   
Dumbledore decided to make a visit to her to see how she was doing. He walked into the Hospital Wing and walked up to her bed, "Hello Gwen, feeling any better?"  
"Hello Professor, yes, I guess. I'm really confused though."  
"About what?"  
"How my father could do all those things. How Xander could disapperate on school grounds. A million questions all left unanswered."  
"I think we should have a meeting with your brother and a few select people so that everyone's questions may be answered," he suggested with a slight twinkle in his blue eyes.  
"I think that would be great, but isn't Xander gone?"  
"Oh no, I had him stay here last night. I think we can have our meeting tonight before dinner in my office. I will send word to all who need to attend."  
"I have one more question, sir."  
"What is it?"  
"May I go now? I am all better and lunch is about to start. I could make it to all of my afternoon classes if I can go now. Please?" she pleaded.  
"Only if it is alright with Madam Pomfrey." She conveniently walked up beside him at that very moment. "Can she go Poppy?"  
"I suppose so," was her reply.  
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore left her to get dressed. She ran down to the Great Hall and went to take a seat at the Gryffindor table. Students promptly started coming in. Most stared at her before taking their seats. At that time, she felt very self-conscious.   
"GWEN!" came a scream from near the front doors as Ron ran in and saw her. She gave a huge smile when she saw him.  
"Hello Ron, how are you?"  
"I'm alright, how are you?" he said while sitting down beside her. Harry and Hermione took their seat across from them.  
"I am fine. A little confused, but all in one piece."  
"That's great because there is a Hogsmeade visit coming up," Harry said.  
"Sounds cool," she said as the food began to appear.  
They ate and chatted about everything. It seemed almost as if the last few months hadn't happened at all. When it was finally time to go to class they got up and headed off. Gwen suddenly realized that she didn't have any of her books for the next classes. She was glad that the next two classes were only potions and transfiguration.   
"You guys go ahead without me, I have to go get my stuff," she said to her lunch companions.  
"Don't worry, I'll go with you," Ron said with a slight blush. After Gwen nodded in agreement, the two headed for the Gryffindor tower.  
Most of their walk was in silence until Gwen found the courage to break it. "Thanks," she said simply.  
"For what?" Ron replied a little confused.  
"For helping me and getting my uncle. You saved my life."  
"No I didn't. Your uncle did that part," he said modestly.  
"But you got him. You never seemed to give me my wand, though."  
"Oh," he said with a laugh, "I did get it, but it was really no use to give it to you when you're unconscious."  
"True, but where is it now?"  
"I had Hermione put it on your bed because I thought you would have been back sooner."  
"Oh, ok. Thanks."   
By that time they had reached the portrait and began going through the hole behind it after saying the password. Gwen headed up to her dormitory and found her wand exactly where Ron said it would be. She picked it up along with all of her stuff and hurried back down to where Ron was waiting for her.  
"What's the date?" she asked him. She had lost all sense of time. She had spent so much of the past laying in the Hospital Wing that she couldn't tell if it was January or July.  
"It's March 31."  
"Already? We'll be leaving soon then."  
"Not for a while, but yes, way too soon." They headed off towards the dungeons for potions. They had left from lunch a little early so they had plenty of time to get there. "Are you going to be staying with Snape?"  
"You mean my uncle? I think so. How about you? How is your living arrangement," Gwen was eager to change the subject.  
"I stay with my parents, three of my brothers, and my sister. You already know all of my siblings I stay with except Percy. He'll be moving out sometime soon with his fiancée, Penelope."  
"How cute. He must be very happy."  
"We all are happy for him. Especially that he will be going away, he gets annoying after 15 years," Ron joked.  
"You said you stay with three of your brothers? Do you have more?"  
"I can't believe I haven't told you any of these things. We have known each other for the entire school year, and yet you nothing about me."  
"Sorry," she said looking at the floor, "We haven't really discussed anything except my family."  
"Which I am still not clear about."  
Gwen gave a small laugh, "We have two more years to get to know each other."  
"Maybe by then I will actually figure it out."  
"Don't worry about it. There isn't much to talk about, most of them are dead."  
"I'm sorry," Ron said as they reached their potions classroom. They took seats in the back next to Harry and Hermione.  
"Don't worry about it. At least I don't have to worry about evil family reunions."  
"It's about time you guys got here," Hermione said.  
"Sorry, we kind of took our time," Ron put in.  
"I see," said Harry curiously.   
Gwen looked across the room and saw Malfoy looking straight at her. He quickly turned around when he saw her looking back at him. "Did you guys know that it was Malfoy who made the beaters aim at me?" she said to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.  
"No," said Hermione suddenly very angry.  
"Do you want me to clobber him, Gwen?" Ron asked massaging his knuckles, "You know I can."  
"No, no, that's alright. I think I am going to think of something on my own."  
"Oh please let us help!" Harry pleaded, "We have spent five years trying to think of ways to get back at him."  
"Alright, let's have a little meeting after dinner to discuss our revenge. Oh…not revenge, I am beginning to hate that word," she laughed quietly as Professor Snape walked into the room.  
"Today," he began, "We will work on memory potions. This one in particular isn't the same kind as you may be thinking. No, it doesn't make people forget things, it helps people remember them. This potion is usually taken by the one who made it. It is rather complicated to explain. I guess what it does is, it helps you forget something for now, but you will remember it later. It doesn't have a specific name, but is called the Suspending Spell. It simply suspends a memory." He finished off looking straight at Gwen.   
She didn't understand what he meant exactly. Maybe he wanted her to forget certain details about the encounter with her father, but be able to remember it later when the time was right. She looked straight back into his dark brown eyes. He was only trying to help her, she knew.  
"Well, everyone should have written that down. I have written all of the materials you will need on the board; as soon as everyone has them we will start," he was still the same old Snape. Everyone got up and started collecting their stuff. "This is a project that you will all need partners on," he continued. Everyone stared at him, waiting for him to choose for them. When they saw he had gone back to his work, the assumed they were actually allowed to pick their own partners for a change. Maybe he wasn't the same old Snape.  
"What did you do to you uncle?" Ron asked as he walked over to Gwen. They were going to be partners, "He is acting weird."  
"I don't know," she said with a laugh.  
All through the class, the students chatted and had a relatively good time, considering it was potions. Professor Snape told them what to do then left them to their own devises. He mostly didn't speak at all until the class was over.  
"I know that none of your potions are finished, so just place your cauldrons against the wall and you will continue working on them next week. Class dismissed," Snape said.  
The students did as they were told and walked to their next classes.  
As soon as Ron and Gwen stepped into the transfiguration classroom, they were greeted by Professor McGonagall brandishing two identical letters, one for each of them. Gwen saw loopy handwriting on the front and realized it must be from Professor Dumbledore.  
  
Dear Gwen Falcon,  
I have decided to call the meeting rather early. As soon as you receive this letter, please come straight to my office. All that need to attend have been notified. Please do not bring anyone extra.  
Albus Dumbledore  
Ron, who had been reading over her shoulder, got out his letter to make sure that it was the same.   
"Professor McGonagall? May we go?" Ron asked after checking his letter.  
"Of course," she said with a sympathetic smile. Ron and Gwen ran out of the room barely after she opened her mouth.  
"Where's mine?" Harry asked after dodging out of Ron's way.  
"You didn't get one," McGonagall replied quietly.  
"Oh," Harry said, disappointed, "I guess I really didn't have anything to do with that night, but I did go get Dumbledore." McGonagall shook her head slightly as Harry took his seat beside Hermione.  
Gwen and Ron ran all the way to Dumbledore's office and stopped right in front of the stone gargoyle.  
"Frog Pops," Gwen muttered and the gargoyle sprang aside to reveal the staircase to Dumbledore's office.  
"How did you know the password?" Ron said in disbelief.  
"I heard my uncle saying it," she replied simply, "No, never mind, I am psychic, didn't you know?"   
"Really? I wouldn't be surprised."  
Gwen shook her head as she walked into Dumbledore's office. They were surprised to find Xander, Dumbledore, and Snape already there in deep conversation. They looked up as Gwen and Ron stepped into the room.  
"Ah, Gwen," Dumbledore started, "We were just talking about living arrangements. I assume you already knew you were to be staying at your uncle's house?"  
"I thought as much," she replied with a huge smile. She looked over at Snape in time to catch a rare smile on his face.  
"Your brother, Alexander, will also be staying with you," Dumbledore continued.  
"You will?" Gwen asked her brother a little shocked.  
"Yes, I will. I have nowhere else to go," he said with his usual quiet voice.  
"Now that that is all cleared up, why don't we continue on to some more pressing issues," Snape suggested. When everyone nodded their heads in agreement, he continued, "I believe that most of us have some questions about how all of these recent events were possible. Gwen, would you like to start?"  
"Umm…" she started, "Sure. How exactly did he escape from jail? Mr. O'Conner I mean."  
"I believe I should be the one to answer that," Xander stated clearly. "While I was at home in America, father would always send me letters. Prisoners were allowed to do that. In one of the letters, he told me exactly how to get him out. It involved me turning into someone else."  
"Did you use the Polyjuice Potion?" Ron asked looking important.  
"No," Gwen answered for him, "I already told you, he can become anyone just by saying their names. So that's what you did?" she said turning to Xander, "You became someone else? Who? Was it the guard they said went missing?"  
"Yes, I impersonated the guard. I kidnapped the real guard after making him tell me his name. Then I hid him in a nearby city."  
"You hid him in a nearby city?" Snape asked curiously.  
"Yes, I think it was Los Angeles."  
"Oh," Snape said rolling his eyes.  
"Well, since our father wasn't known to be a mean prisoner, actually he was known for being very good. Anyways, he was so nice and courteous to the guards, that they transferred him to a lower security part of the prison. Meaning only one guard, which was the guard whose identity I stole." He paused allowing the new information to sink into everyone's minds before continuing.   
"Alcatraz isn't like Azkaban. It doesn't have hundreds of dementors everywhere. It only has one dementor, and it is there only to perform the kiss of death on certain cases." He shuddered as if remembering a certain unpleasant memory, "So it was easy to just slip in, and slip out with father. I told the guard at the gate that I was taking him on a walk. See, he was in one of those such low security portions, that they routinely allow the prisoners to go on walks, or even go into the city as long as they are accompanied by a guard or two."  
"It was almost too easy. All I had to do was get into a boat with him and, using a little magic, get safely to shore. I was surprised with what luck we had. I would have thought the guards would have been at least a little less helpful. To think, if it was that easy to get him out, can anyone else in minimum security get out, too?" with that he sat back in his chair letting out a little sigh of relief. He had finally told someone, and it felt great to get it off his chest. "Oh, and the guard turned up a few days later. A little shook up, but alright."  
"Alright, I guess we need to contact the American Ministry of Magic and tell them they need to work on their security systems at Alcatraz," Dumbledore spoke up.  
"I have a question," Ron started, "My father talks about a certain Alcatraz Prison every once in a while, but he said it was an old abandoned muggle prison. How could magical folk be kept there when there are tons of tours everyday?"  
"Ah…" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes, "This one I can explain. A long time ago, Alcatraz went out of business for muggles and the wizarding world decided it was a perfect place to store our inmates. Since the muggles in the area already thought it was haunted, we just encouraged the rumor. Much like what happened with the shrieking shack. Another ingenious plan was to make muggles blind to anyone but muggles when they are on Alcatraz grounds. Meaning, if a wizard were to walk right past them, they wouldn't see a thing."  
"But what about the Dementor? Can they see it? Or are they blind to that too?"  
"They can't see it, but unfortunately they can still feel its presence."  
"I know for a fact, that even if you're invisible, you can still run into people," Ron said, then regretted how he had phrased his sentence.  
"Yes yes, but the tours that go through Alcatraz always stick to a certain path and a certain part of the building. If they were to collide into a wizard, they would normally just assume it was ghost."  
"Cool," said Gwen in awe, "How could a spell like that be cast on every single prisoner? Do they keep having to put the same spell on new inmates?"  
"No, as soon as they walk onto the grounds, they immediately become invisible to all muggles. It took many many wizards to cast such a tremendous spell, but they managed," Dumbledore finished with a smile.  
"I have a question for you, Xander. How can you disapperate on school grounds?" Snape asked intrigued.  
"I can't," he said with an amused look on his face, "One thing you can do on school grounds is teleportation to other parts on the grounds. It isn't exactly disapperating. What happens is you never fully disappear; you merely go really really fast. All I did was teleport to the edge of the grounds, stepped out, then disapperated. I was just going too fast for anyone to see me."  
"Genius," Dumbledore said with wide eyes, "You have just found a loop hole in the spell that protects the grounds."  
"Thank you," Xander replied with a slight blush.  
"I'll have to take that up with the Ministry. We need a teleportation blocking spell."  
"Ruin my fun," Xander laughed.  
"My turn," Gwen budded in, "Uncle Severus, why didn't you try to kill my father when you were dueling?"  
"I didn't want him to die! Of course not. I don't really ever want to kill anyone. I knew that is was unnecessary," he replied looking deep into her eyes. The room went silent.  
"So now you admit he's your father?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye.  
"Yes, I admit it. You can never pick your relatives. At least some of them I'd like to keep," her eyes passed from Snape to Xander, then to Ron, "And somehow, I didn't really get to pick my friends either, it just happened that way." She laughed and Ron smiled.  
"Are there any further questions?" Dumbledore spoke up sounding exactly like the professor he was. When no one replied he stated, "Then everyone off to dinner. If you think of anything, just come on by, and if I think of any questions for you, I will let you know."  
With that everyone got up to exit the room.  
"Oh, Professor?" Ron started.  
"Yes?"  
"Why was that hut in the middle of the forest?"  
"Actually, that I do not know," Dumbledore responded looking stumped, "I guess it is possible that someone had lived there at one time or another, but I don't know who. Or even when for that matter."  
Everyone shrugged their shoulders and headed off towards dinner. Once again, Xander ate with the Gryffindors, much to the liking of the Gryffindor girls.   
  
Xander was, in their eyes, incredibly handsome. He was 18 years old, 6 foot 4 inches with black spiked hair and bright, crystal blue eyes. As soon as he would sit down, all of the girls would stare at him. This only made Gwen crack up with laughter. Back at home, Xander would have a new girlfriend every week. He was a heart breaker.  
It was hard to believe that she was sitting next to her brother. Just barely a week ago she would have been more likely to kill him then sit by him. But there she was…  
Although they had had the meeting in Dumbledore's office, some questions were left unanswered.  
"Ron?" Gwen asked him right as he shoved a huge bite of chicken in his mouth.  
"Wu?" he managed to mumble through the food.  
"When he...umm…my father knocked you out, did it hurt you?"  
"Um…yeah. I dislocated my shoulder. Why?" he said once he swallowed the chicken.  
"Ouch, but wait. When did you get that healed?"  
"Umm…Xander healed it when we were taking you to the Hospital Wing."  
"Oh really? Hey, Xander!"  
Xander turned to face Gwen and left Lavender Brown scowling. Xander had just been innocently flirting with her. Gwen laughed as she looked at Lavender's face. "What is it Leah?"   
Gwen smiled as she recognized an inside joke from their childhood. Leah was her middle name and Xander used to always call her by it just to annoy her. "Umm…I just wanted to say thanks."  
"For what?" he said smiling. In his mind he sighed a breath of relief. She had finally forgiven him.  
"For everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you, but I had good reason. You have to give me that much."  
"Yes, you did," Xander bowed his head in shame, "I'm sorry. I will try to make it up to you, but I doubt I could ever do that."  
Gwen was suddenly reminded of her mother. She felt guilty that she never had time to mourn for her. All of her emotions came rushing out at once and she broke into silent tears. She would never be going home. Never, there was no home to go to. No mother there to rush out and hug her. No mother to ask how Hogwarts was and if she had made any new friends. She wasn't even going to her native continent anytime soon.  
"It's all right, you'll be fine. Everything will be ok in the end. We just have to get there first," came a female's voice in her ear. She felt someone put their arms around her shoulders. When she looked up, no one was hugging her. Her friends were staring in disbelief at a figure standing over Gwen.   
Gwen wheeled around just to see what looked like her mother fade away with a wink of her eye.  
"Mom," Gwen whispered. She was gone. "Did you see her? Xander, did you?" Tears were running down her face as she questioned her friends. She looked around the room. All were silent.  
"We all saw her Gwen. All of us," Xander comforted her.  
Gwen looked up at her uncle sitting with the rest of the professors. He nodded his head as if he had heard her question.  
"I…I need to go now," Gwen said as she stood up and put her napkin down on her plate. She walked out of the Great Hall while everyone watched her.   
Ron began to get up to follow her but Xander grabbed his arm.  
"Don't," Xander said simply.  
Ron sat back down as the regular murmur of the student's voices returned.  
For the rest of the meal, Harry, Hermione, Xander, and Ron ate in silence. When they were all done, they marched up to join Gwen.   
They found her sitting in the Common Room holding an old leather-bound book.   
Ron, Xander, Hermione, and Harry sat down in chairs beside her and waited for her to say something.  
After a while she finally spoke, "This- is my Baby Book. My mother religiously wrote down all of my "firsts" in here." She messaged the engraved cover with her fingertips, tracing the letters of her name. She opened the cover to a picture of Xander, her mother, her father, and what seemed to be a younger version of Severus Snape, along with a few other people, all gathered around a tiny baby.   
"That's me," she continued, "I was two days old. My mother made this book for me, but when I turned 14, there was no more room left to add anymore "firsts." So she gave it to me. I'm glad it's mostly muggle pictures. I don't think I could handle some of these people moving," She smiled and turned a few more pages, each time talking about the individual pictures. She reached a smiling picture of her holding a wand, but this picture was moving.  
"My first wand. I was so happy, Mom was so proud," a single tear fell from her eye.  
Ron broke in, "We're here now Gwen. You can tell us anything."  
"I know," Gwen laughed softly, "Now I have to tell you who I am. You have all had years, five to be exact, to learn about each other's family. Now you will hear about mine, and Xander's," she added smiling.  
"OK, but when you're done, can we tell you about ours?" Hermione smiled.  
"Sure, I'm counting on it," she got up and motioned for them all to sit in front of the fireplace in a circle. They laid on their stomachs just as a large ginger cat bound into the center of their circle.  
"Crookshanks! You deserve to hear, too," Hermione pushed her cat over making him stretch out on his back, "Aw, Crookshanks, you look as tasty as a ginger cookie," she teased her cat as he began to purr.   
Everyone looked at her.  
"What? I like my kitty, and I'm right aren't I?"  
"Ya, you are," Ron said smiling.  
"No hard feelings about…umm…pets being enemies?" Hermione said.  
"Of course not, I like you cat," with that Crookshanks got up, walked over to Ron, and started licking his face. "Okay, okay, I don't like you that much!" he protested.  
"Aw, looks like everyone likes ickle Ronikins!" Harry laughed.  
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? What are you guys talking about pets being enemies? Never mind, I don't want to hear it! Tell me later. Tonight it's my turn to explain."  
Crookshanks cuddled up between Xander and Ron and purred madly as Gwen told her new best friends, and brother, all about the O'Conner family tree.  
  
The year flew by…Quidditch ended and Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. Gryffindor also won the House Cup, but barely. This year Hufflepuff came in so close that they had to have an investigation as to whether or not anyone cheated on house points. Hufflepuff's tally was five less the Gryffindor's. Slytherin came in an upsetting fourth place.   
Hermione got perfect scores on her final exams, and everyone else managed well. Gwen even managed a perfect score in Divination, which consisted of trying to contact an "Ancient Egyptian Priestess." She didn't succeed, but she lied remarkably well!  
They hadn't had Defense of the Darks Arts classes that year due to shortage of staff members, but there was a rumor that next year there was going to be the first ever American Professor at Hogwarts, none other then Professor Xander O'Conner.  
Gwen moved in with Snape and Xander. Plus she got permission to have Hermione, Harry, and Ron over for a long holiday. This summer was going to rock.  
As Gwen likes to say ever since the day she saw her mother, "All's well that ends well, and this is the end." 


End file.
